My Own Cinderella Story
by greasegurl
Summary: Gabriella moves to another country, makes new friends, a new life and maybe a new love. Btw the story isnt really about A Cinderella Story. troyella! what else!
1. My Life

**A/N: this is my first fanfic. I wrote it one time when I was grounded, and the characters were originally made up with nothing to do with the HSM characters. But I figured it would be much easier doing a story with characters that everyone already knew. **

**Disclaimer:**** I OWN NOTHING!! I hate saying that. It makes me sad. I wish I did own the HSM franchise. Boy, whoever came up with that idea sure is rich!**

**Anyway, on with the story!!**

My story is similar to that of Hilary Duffs in A Cinderella Story. Only without the botox addicted stepmother. And my dad isn't dead. He's just useless.

My parents got divorced about 2 years ago. It wasn't as hard for us as people expect. My dad was hardly ever around anyway. He was always on 'business trips' with his secretaries. And then there was that time he had to go to England to watch over the new chain of department stores his company had recently built. He told me he was going to be away for a couple of weeks, 2 months tops he told me. Well I didn't see him for a year and a half. After about 6 months I asked my mum if he was dead. I mean, what do you expect a 7 year old to think?

Anyway, a few weeks after they spilt, my mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She past away about two months ago, so naturally I had to move in with my 'fantastic father'. Unfortunately he had moved to California. So I had to pack up my life in little old Auckland, New Zealand **(A/N it's a real place! I live there! Google it if you need to! Lol)** and move to live with my dad and his new 'Barbie look-alike' wife. Actually I lied about not having the botox addicted step-mother; Katrina – or 'Kat' as she insists I call her – may have a real problem! Oh well! Only kidding, I may not like her much, but I'm not _that_ horrible. She's just very worried about her image.

To be honest, my story's nothing like Hilary's, except for the flash house and me living in the attic. It was my choice I guess, I like making statements. Not the 'Emo' or 'Goth' kind, just the sort that lets people know who I am, and that I don't take any crap.

If it wasn't for my mums will, stating that I had to live with my father until my 18th birthday if I wanted to ever see any of my inheritance, I wouldn't have even moved here. I would have stayed with some friends back in New Zealand. But now I'm stuck here for another 8 months.

**Well there you go. The first chapter of my first story. Hope you like it! I will keep typing out the other chapters until… well until I get bored I guess! Lol**

**Peace! GreaseGurl**


	2. Shopping

**A/N: this is my first fanfic. I wrote it one time when I was grounded, and the characters were originally made up with nothing to do with the HSM characters. But I figured it would be much easier doing a story with characters that everyone already knew. **

**Disclaimer:**** I OWN NOTHING!! I still hate saying that. And it still makes me sad. :(**

**OH! thanks heaps to the two people who added my story to their subscription thingy, and the other person who added it to their favourites. THANK YOU HEAPS lol**

**Again, on with the story!!**

"GABBBBBIIIIII!! Sweetie its time to get uuuuppppp! UP UP UP!!"

UGH! Why does she have to be so happy in the mornings? Poking my head ever-so-slightly out from underneath the duvet, I rolled over to look at the alarm clock.

"It's not even 8.00 o'clock yet!" I mumbled as I put my head back under the blankets. "And it's Sunday! I just wanna sleep in" boy the whine really does come out in my voice when I'm tired.

"Gabby Wabby- "(I hate that name) "-your first day of school is in a few weeks," Kat said as she sat on the edge of my queen size bad, trapping me, forcing me to listen to her. "And I thought you might like to go shopping for a new outfit. Something cute, like a little pink summer dress. Or a denim skirt with a purple…."

Wow. She does not stop talking. Just constantly. On and on. Well I would like some new clothes. Just as long as they don't match hers…

"Ok ok! Just give me half an hour to shower and change. "

"…and we can do lun- oh ok. Ill meet you downstairs in half an hour then" Kat said with a huge grin plastered on her face. How is she always happy?! I don't think I've ever seen her anything but happy!

Ok, I know its wrong to be spending their money and not making an effort to get to know them, but it's just so hard. And its not like I'm asking them for money, they're offering it

Half an hour later, Katrina and I were walking out the front door to her black convertible BMW, while my dad was standing at the front door trying to do the right thing by yelling "have a fun time you two! Be safe!"

"He's pretty lame isn't he?"

"Tell me about it" I half snorted, as I slid into the front seat of the all leather interior.

"So where to first? Clothes or coffee?"

"I could do with a coffee…after all its not even nine o'clock."

"Good point" Kat said with a grin

Throughout the ten minute trip from the house to star bucks at the local mall, I learnt that Kat wasn't such an airhead, and that she actually had opinions… mainly on cute boys that we drove past - but they still count!

Flashing a bleached white smile at the pimple faced cashier, kat somehow got us free muffins with our lattes. Once we were seated I asked her how she did it.

"It's flirting without saying anything. Acknowledging he's there is the best thing you could do for his ego."

My my Kat, you are a sly one aren't you?

Four hours later…

"Ohhhh…..try this one! This shirt if great for saying 'look at me' but also says 'you have no chance'!"

Yeah, 'cos that's just what I want, to scare off all the boys.

"Ok, well I really like those ¾ jeans and that pink halter with the black cardigan"

"That sounds spectacular, but I think we should get you that yellow dress as well – just in case."

Another hour later, loaded with close to twenty bags between us, we decided to stop for a late lunch.

"While we're waiting for our meals, do you mind if I go over to the CD store over there?"

"Nah, go for it, I'll just wait here"

"Cool thanks"

Flicking through the stacks of CD's, I couldn't help but notice a group of 13-ish looking girls whispering and giggling at something on the other side of the store. Moving to a new stack of CD's I casually looked up to see the cutest face with the most perfect blue eyes. His hair was in a 'surfer style' with his fringe reaching his eyebrows and messily brushed with his fingers, and he had the biggest whitest grin. He was laughing along with the girls who were obviously trying to impress him.

Wow. He. Is. HOT!!

Walking up to the counter with my latest addition to my CD selection, I realized that 'cute-boy' worked here.

"How are you today?"

"Good thanks, and you?" I said flashing a smile

"Well let's just say its been a long day!" he said with a hint of laughter. Oh he's so cute!

"….so are you new in town?" oh crap! Pay attention!

"Um yeah. I got here a few weeks ago."

"Yeah I thought so. Id definitely remember you if I saw you before."

Was that a compliment? Man I hope that was a compliment!

"So…your accent isn't American, where are you from?"

"New Zealand – and before you ask, its not part of England. Or Australia!"

Laughing he said "don't worry I _do _know where New Zealand is. I've always wanted to go here. I hear you have some great surf beaches."

"Uh yeah… well anyway I'd best be going. Don't want to keep the step mum waiting…"

"Well I guess ill see you at school in a few weeks?"

So he was a school boy then?

"Sure Ill-uh-see you then."

--

"So who is he?" Kat asked with a sly grin on her face, while she handed me yet another pair of shoes.

"What do you mean?" I replied, trying to hide all smiley facial expressions.

"The boy who's made you have a huge grin stuck on your face all afternoon."

Ahh…yes…. 'The boy'. Whose name I do not know…

"Oh there was just a cute guy at the CD store." I said trying to sound as though I didn't care.

"Hmmm. Already getting interested in the local talent are we?"

"Omigod! EW! Please don't EVER say that again!" I said while trying not to laugh so hard that I'd draw attention to us.

"Was it really that bad? Oh well. Anyway, umm… Tuesday night… there is a fancy dinner that the country club is putting on – just an excuse for the man to get together and drink really – but he, well with of us, would really love for you to be there…" she said trailing off.

I stared at the shoes on my feet for a while. They were silver strappy shoes. One strap going over the toes, and another curling from the inside of the heel and around just under the ankle to the other side. The straps were completely covered in diamonds (which were fake but no one needed to know that!) and were 3 inches high, and for me, that's like walking on skyscrapers!

"I'd really like to, but I don't have any fancy clothes…and…yeah…"

"Nonsense! There's a store next door and that I'm sure you'll find a dress in. come on! Lets get these shoes and then we will find you the perfect dress!"

Wow. She is WAY too excited about this.

"So how'd you two get on?"

"Well as you can see by the millions of bags, we did very well didn't we Kat?"

"We sure did. We even got Gabi something to nice to wear on Tuesday."

"That's great! Speaking of Tuesday, the Bolton's have just called to say they will definitely see us there"

"Fabulous! Gabi can meet Troy!"

Oh. God. Blind dates already? "Uh... I think I'll take these up to my room…" I said as I tried my best to escape from the Stepford couple.

**Hope you liked it. Ive pre-written another, maybe four chapters depending on how i spread them out and if they are gonna be short or long. ill keep working on it though**

**Peace! GreaseGurl**


	3. Country Club

Tuesday came around all too quickly

Tuesday came around all too quickly. One minute I was watching the TV in my trackies and a scruffy t-shirt, the next Katrina was practically washing me in the shower. I had to bribe her to get her out of the bathroom.

Then she did my hair, which went from its usual messy curly ponytail to shiny and smooth. Kat decided that my hair needed to be straightened and was now sitting almost halfway down my back. Next my make-up, which I managed to make her tone down, and not make me look as though my face was painted on.

Then, I almost stopped breathing as I put on the skin tight black halter dress that made me feel as though I was only wearing a towel. Considering the dress only just touched the tops of my knees.

"Are you sure I don't look slutty with this outfit on?" By the time I had put on the 3 inch high silver shoes, I was extremely nervous. I never dressed like this back home. Normally it was just jeans and a jumper. Not dresses and heels.

"No of course not! Here put this shawl around your shoulders if you're worried."

"Ok, ok…"

And half an hour later I was being ushered down the stairs to greet my father.

"Wow Ella. You look stunning."

"Aw gee thanks dad." I said with a fake smile

"Wow…" he seemed to be at a loss for words "…Erm should we get going?"

Pulling up to the valet at the country club, I noticed all of the girls my age had higher heels and shorter skirts than mine and I began to regain my confidence.

Stepping out of the car, I noticed that I was doing it like all of the movie stars did at Movie Premieres along the red carpet, and suddenly I was excited!

"Lucille! Jack! It's so good to see you!" exclaimed Kat

I did a quick skirt in knickers check before turning to walk around the car to greet these new 'friends'

"Katrina! Stephen! Oh and this must be Gabriella! Oh I've heard so much about you!" said the woman I'm assuming was Lucille. I could only smile in reply.

Sitting at a large round table inside the country club, dad asked, "Now where is Troy? I need to go over Friday's game with him…"

"Oh he had to get something from the car – here he is now-" said Jack; at least I think that's his name.

Lucille waved him over, "Troy sweetie! This is Gabriella, Stephens's daughter from New Zealand."

I.Don't.Believe.It. Staring at me were the most perfect blue eyes and smiling at me was the biggest, whitest grin.

"You…" I said trailing off, at a loss for words.

"You two know each other?" asked my father

"Um yeah…I bumped into him the other day…"

"Well Troy, I'm sure Gabriella doesn't want to sit around here listening to adult talk all night, why don't you show her around?"

I have a feeling Kats up to something.

Standing up, Troy looped my arm through his and led me out of one of the side entrances, and onto the great balcony over looking the ocean.

"So…Erm…" I muttered nervously. Troy seemed to be enjoying my discomfort.

"I have a confession; I knew who you were the other day."

"H-how could you possibly know that?" I laughed, leaning my back on the railing

"First of all, you look like your father"

"Gee thanks" I said sarcastically

"And secondly, there aren't too many 17 year old girls from New Zealand around here."

"Ah."

With a grin, Troy turned around to rest his forearms on the railing and look out at the ocean.

"So how'd you get forced into coming to this boring country club party?"

"Kat used her puppy dog eyes." I said laughing

"Ugh! I've seen those eyes before. Your parents didn't leave our house until 4am thanks to those eyes"

"Wow. They're more powerful than I thought. Ill have to watch out for them?" grinning I turned to look at Troy

"And how did you, Mr. Bolton, get dragged here?"

"Well you see, my darling parents and I have an agreement. That is, if I show up to 'fancy rich people functions' and act like the perfect son, they don't question where I've been, who I was with and what I was doing" he explained laughing

"Oh I see. So you sneak out for lots of midnight quickies I take it then?"

"No! God no! It's normally just hanging out with some mates or going to parties. Trust me, I'm not like that"

"Well trust me. With _your_ eyes and _that_ smile, you could be if you wanted to!"

_Dear god,_

_Please tell me that you have mastered the art of time travel, and can take me back to right before I said that, and prevent me from saying anything stupid again._

_Amen._

Oh man, I'm never gonna live this one down, I thought as I blushed.

"Heeeey!! You think I'm seeexy!!" he drew out the word sexy, like a little boy, not knowing quite what it meant, but still thinking it was a cool word.

"I-I…I mean…that is…I guess that you could possibly be slightly attractive…" I stammered trying to get the words out of my mouth. Looking back down at the water below us, I could feel my face turning redder by the second. Thank god it was dark by now.

"Hey," he said turning me to face him, and still avoiding his eyes, he lifted my chin to look at him "your kind of slightly attractive too," he said with a slight teasing tone in his voice.

"Shut up!" I said trying not to laugh and lightly slapping his arm.

"Come on, lets go for a walk down to the beach" he said laughing while putting an arm around my shoulder and steering me towards the stairs for the beach.

Taking hold of Troy's hand, I looked up to see him grinning at me as if to say, 'I knew it! You want me!'

I slowly leaned in close to him until I was able to whisper in his ear


	4. Your Watch

**hey guys**

**i didnt know it was possible to update by accident, but what do you know! i did it! chapter 3 wasnt ment to end there. in fact i didnt know where it was ment to end, but apparntly it works so oh well!!**

**thanks for the reviews, every bit helps lol thanks to those ppl who are adding my story to their favourites and alerts. i heart you guys! lol in answer to Luvin.Jashleys' question, yes surfing is a big thing here, only in some places tho. the south island is the snowyer part lol (msg for my friend) stop thinking about it!! haha inside joke sorry guys!!**

**o btw, this chapter gets a bit dodgey...not too dodgey, but a little bit dodgey. just enough for awkwardness.**

"Your watch." I said as I pulled his wrist up towards the moonlight enabling me to see the time. It was 12.30 in the morning already! Troy and I had spent hours talking about our parents and the country club. I didn't think they would be that interesting.

"That was cruel. Cruel and mean Brie." Troy said trying his best pouting face.

"Come on! You were asking for it! Looking at me as though I was gonna lie down and scream 'take me Troy! Take me now!'"

"Well that could still happen…" he said trying to keep a serious face as he put a hand on my thigh and lent in for a kiss.

"You so much as think about that any longer and I can safely say you won't ever be having kids."

"Harsh Montez, real harsh." He said laughing and removing his hand

"It's getting late. I'm surprised our parents haven't come looking for us yet…"

"Are you kidding? They'll be here all night. Tell me when you want to get outta here. Id be happy to escort you home. We've made our appearances; we can go when we want."

"Um – ok. I'll just call my parents"

After several drunken instructions from my father, I had the all clear to go.

"My cars this way" Troy said as we got to the top of the stairs and started heading in the direction of the cars. Strolling over to an 'old school' dark blue BMW, Troy held the door open waiting for me to get into the car.

"Thanks"

"No problem."

The car ride was silent other than the radio playing quietly. It wasn't until Troy started singing along the Michael Jackson's, 'Billie Jean' that the silence was broken. I tried to contain my laughter but when he really started belting out the notes, I could contain it no longer. I burst into fits of laughter.

"I'm sorry! I'm not laughing at you! It's just – "I couldn't complete the sentence.

"Yay! You are awake. I was afraid you'd fallen asleep on me!"

Turning onto a little street I could see the hugemongous (yes! That is a real word!) house at the end which I now called my home. It looked far too scary to go into alone at this time of night…

"Um Troy…"

"Hmmmm?" he murmured while pulling into the driveway

"Could you…I mean do you want to come in for a bit?"

"Yeah sure. Why not." He said with a smirk on his face

Unlocking the door, I cautiously stepped inside and quietly snuck over to the lights to turn on every single light that I could.

"What's wrong? You afraid of the dark?" Troy said laughing

Slightly annoyed that I had invited him in, I turned on the kettle and began preparing a coffee for myself. If Troy wanted one he would have to make it himself.

Walking into the kitchen, Troy decided to inform me that he had 'just taken a leak' which I guess explained his sudden absence. Grabbing my coffee, I slowly began climbing the stairs, which is not easy in stiletto heels whilst carrying hot coffee. Troy quickly caught up with me and followed me up the last few stairs to my attic bedroom. Opening my door, I could tell that he was impressed.

"Fallout boy? Wow I didn't know those guys were famous in New Zealand." Troy said while admiring some of my posters. Seeing this as a chance to get changed I turned my back to him and lent against one of the posts of my four-poster bed. Taking off my shoes, I found my pj pants and quickly put them on underneath my dress. However trying to unzip the dress was proving to be very difficult. Suddenly I felt a body directly behind me.

"Do you need any help with that?" Troy said, sounding like a cheesy romance book.

"Nah I'm good. Ill get it."

Stepping back a little bit, so that our bodies were no longer touching, Troy began to slowly unzip the dress from the top to the end of it, almost at the very top of my pj pants. Quickly taking off the dress, I was able to put my hoodie on over my bra before he could make any more moves.

"Don't stress Montez." He laughed

"Thanks for that Bolton."

"Your welcome" he said as he kissed my head. Boy he sure had some nerve!

"So you think you've got me all figured out do you?" I said sitting down on my bed

"Pretty much, yeah" he said with a smirk, as he took off his shoes and jacket to get more comfortable

"Ok then. What have you figured out about me?"

"Well, firstly your mom couldn't handle your rebelliousness so she sent you over here to live with your dad. Secondly, you want me so bad. Thirdly, your new goal in life is to make your dad send you home, and last but not least, you want me sooooooo bad" he ended with a grin and yet again, leant in for a kiss

"Close but no cigar. Firstly, I don't 'want you so bad'. Secondly, I don't mind living here that much. And last but not least, I can't be sent home"

"Oh? And why is that?"

"I don't have a home. My mum died a few months ago…" I said trailing off, on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you…" he said as he sat down and put his arms around me. Leaning into his warm embrace, I realized that I hadn't had a real hug since mum past away. Sure I had plenty of hugs at the funeral, and lots more at the airport, but those were 'I'm sorry' hugs and 'Goodbye' hugs. They weren't like the hug that Troy was giving me now, the kind that was used to simply let you know that they are there for you if you need them.

I turned slightly to get comfortable, no doubt wiping tears all down the front of his expensive dress shirt he had worn to the country club and mumbled a small 'sorry'. He just began rubbing my back, returning me to a calmer state. We sat like that for a while, not speaking, because no words were needed. We both understood each other.

Troy moved his hand up to my chin and lifted it so that I was looking at him and said, "I'm sorry I made you cry. I swear I didn't know. I didn't mean to hurt you"

Then very slowly he brushed his lips across mine, just an 'I'm sorry' kiss, but I couldn't help it. I put my hands on either side of his head and pulled him back to me. He kissed me once again, then looked me square in the eyes and said, "Are you sure?"

Instead of saying anything, I put my arms around his neck and put a leg on either side of his, straddling him. I bent my head down and kissed him with a little more force than before. In almost an instant, I was on my back with him lying on top of me. When he ran his tongue across my lip, I was NOT expecting it (stupid I know, but what can I say) and he gave me quite a fright, but soon I relaxed and began returning the kisses. I soon realize we were in a full fledged make out session.

Unfortunately for me, Tyler (Tyler??) had suddenly decided to be a 'gentleman' and rolled off me so we were lying side by side,

"Sorry 'bout that" he said while I just nodded, too afraid of what words would escape my mouth if I opened it.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence I decided that I was far too turned on to let him get away with just stopping. I quickly rolled over so I was lying on top of him, and kissed him once again. Without any hesitation whatsoever he began returning to kissed, and once again, we were making out. Only this time, I was in charge. One of his hands had found it's been underneath my hoodie and was resting on the small of my back, just above the top of my pjs. His other hand was tangled up in my hair. Just how I like it.

The hand that was on my back began to slowly rub up and down my spine, with each stroke getting higher up my back, and further down my butt until he was fully groping it, pushing us closer together.

All the while our tongues were 'dancing erotically with each other'. Now as much as that sounds like one of those lines from those cheap romance novels, it's the only was to describe it.

After letting his hand rest on my butt for a while, I grabbed it and slowly traced a line with his fingers, under my hoodie and around to my breasts, until his hand was fully covering one of them. With my hand still on top of his, not letting his hand stray from where I wanted it, he broke the kiss to look me directly in the eyes "are you sure your sure?" he whispered, unable to speak, I just smiled and lent in for another kiss.

**thanks for reading!! ill try to update soon!!**

**oo (i dont really know you so i feel x's would be inappropriate hehe)**

**greasegurl**


	5. That was wow

**Hey guys**

**So sorry about the typo in the last chapter! As I said in the first chapter I wrote this story with other characters and as I type it out I sometimes forget to change the names. My friend proof read the chapter for me but I didn't spot the '(Tyler??)' that she had written in bright red (lol)**** did I mention that mentally, I am incredibly blonde? (No offense to any blondes!) In the original story Troy would have been Tyler and Gabriella, Ashley. The other characters are being introduced in this chapter too so just in case I accidentally make another mistake I will tell you who they are as well.**

**Kelan - Chad**

**Braedon-Zeke**

**Emma-Sharpay**

**Trish-Taylor**

**Again, I am sorry!!**

**O and by the way, for those of you that don't know, in New Zealand, we call our mothers 'mum' (spelt with a u) and Americans use an o, so that's why there are different spellings, according to which characters speaking about their mother/s. Just a technicality, but I want Gabriella to be a true blue kiwi (New Zealander) lol **

**I own nothing other than the plot!! Yay me!!**

**On with the story!!**

Ok so I know saying something like 'that was great sex' at a time like this would be pretty cliché, but my god! That _was _great sex. Gabriella and I were currently lying side by side staring at her ceiling.

"That was…wow…" she said

Laughing at her lack of words, I looked at her and said,"yes. That _was_ wow."

"Shut up!"

Laughing I moved closer so I could wrap my arms around her waist and bury my head in the side of her neck. Pretty soon we were both asleep.

Waking up several hours later, we were still in much the same position, aside from Gabriella's back was now against my chest.

Stretching, she asked, "Aren't you supposed to be gone?"

"No. Why? Are you trying to kick me out?" I replied teasing her

"Well I don't do the 'one night stand' thing very often, but shouldn't you have done a runner by now?"

"Done a runner?"

"You know… run away…?"

"Well who said anything about a one night stand? Are you trying to get rid of me? I can go if you want me to." I said as I made a move to leave

"No! I mean – it's cool if you stay…" I had caught her off guard and now she was getting flustered "but you might wanna get some clothes on, in case Kat comes bounding in like she normally does"

"Fine!" I said in that annoying, 'your making me do something I really don't wanna do, and you will pay for it' voice.

As Gabriella made a move I get out of the bed I jumped on top of her, "Don't move. I like snuggling with you." I said with my best cutesy grin.

"Riiiight….were you a girl in a previous life?"

Laughing I got off her and began searching for my boxers. When I had my back turned, Gabriella leapt out of bed and put her pyjamas on.

"Hey! No fair! You've got too many clothes on!" I said while trying to tug her shirt off her. Giggling, she pushed me onto the bed and got under the blankets beside me.

Pulling her close to me, I kissed her softly on the lips. Smiling, Gabriella cuddled closer to me, then in the tiniest voice I've ever heard, she said,"you do this a lot, don't you?"

When I didn't reply immediately, she whispered,"theres no point in lying. You don't learn that stuff from books"

Sighing, I pulled her even closer. "kinda… I more-or-less just suck at the whole relationship thing…"

"Oh…"

At a loss for words, I simply kissed her hair and leaned back into the pillow. Shutting my eyes, I could feel Gabriella trying to pull away, not on purpose, more like the subconscious need to run. Holding her chin with my thumb and forefinger, I gently guided her face to mine "come here" I whispered as I did it. I could feel her hesitation as our lips almost touched, but thank god she didn't run. We continued kissing, but more of what I call a 'lazy make out session'

Groaning, I pulled away for a breather. I realised I had a hard on. Again. And we weren't doing anything!! Just kissing!! This girl is really something.

"What's wrong?"

"its just…well…" unable to describe to her what she had done to me, I took her hand from around my neck and gently, so I didn't frighten her, placed her hand where I was feeling the effect of her most.

"…oh…" she said slightly embarrassed

"Yeah…oh…is right..."

She laughed and laid her head back on the pillow watching her ceiling. Getting out of bed once again, I searched for my clothes and began to put them on.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying – emphasis on trying – to be a gentleman. I don't want you to think you are just sex to me." I explained as I buttoned up my shirt

"Ohk…?" she replied, slightly confused

"So I will call you later. At a decent hour and not-"I looked at my watch"-3am and we can make plans for today. Or tonight. Or both, which ever suits you best." Leaning over, I gave her a quick peck on the lips and turned and walked out her bedroom door.

--

Well that was weird, I thought as I stared at my door. Most guys ran away when the girl was asleep. Not when they were still making out with the girl. He was a really bad liar too. He didn't even have my number. At the next 'rich people function' as he so called them, I would have to make sure I found a way to stay away from him. God, what am I going to tell Dad and Kat? All of these thoughts were rushing through my head when I heard loud footsteps thumping up the stairs. Oh crap! Dad! Flinging myself over to the other side of the bed, I tried to hide my face in the pillow and blankets as best as I could, hoping that he wouldn't notice that I was awake. I heard the whine of the door as it opened, and then the floorboards creaking as he walked from the door to my bed. Then the sinking of the mattress as the extra weight was added.

"Hey. You're a sucky actress. I know you're awake."

Wait…that wasn't Dad…

"Troy? What are you doing?" I asked as I rolled over to look at him.

"I forgot that I didn't have your number" he grinned sheepishly

I just stared at him.

"Huh?"

"I forgot to get your number. So can I have it?"

"Uh, sure…"

After swapping numbers he grinned and kissed me once again, then practically skipped out of the room. He sure was one 'unique' guy.

--

Less than 12 hours ago, I was properly introduced to Troy, yet I had already slept with him, AND managed to scare him away. Or so I thought anyway. Waking up a few hours after Troy had finally left my room, I realised there wasn't a thunderstorm outside; it was just my stomach complaining of hunger. So I quietly got out of bed and tried to discreetly go downstairs and fix myself breakfast.

Now have you ever tried be really, really quiet? Ever notice how it never works? And that it would have been much, MUCH quieter for you to just be normal? As I walked down the stairs, _every single_ stair creaked. Loudly.

Once downstairs, I turned on the radio 'cos it was scary quiet, and what happened? It came on REALLY LOUD!!

Then, I tried to get out a pan for my bacon and eggs (yum!) and I dropped all of the pots and pans everywhere. It was just getting worse and worse. I think I can safely rule 'secret spy ninja' off my possible careers list.

"Can you cook me some eggs too? I have a killer hangover!" Kat said as she sat down at the Breakfast Bar.

"Have a hard night did we?"

"You can say that again"

"I didn't mean to wake you"

"All good. How was you night with Troy?"

"Oh. We just…um…hung out. You know, watched movies and…stuff."

"Oh really?" she really didn't believe me. "he's a good guy. No matter what you hear about him when you go to school. I've known him since before he went high school. He's got a good head on his shoulders"

"Yeah he seemed that way last night"

"One thing you should know about him though; if there's something he wants, he _will _find a way to get it."

"Oh really?" I said laughing "ill watch out for that"

"You should ask him to introduce you to some of his friends before school starts. That way you'll at least know a couple of people before you start."

"Ill…uh…talk to him about that…sometime…"

"How are the eggs going? Do you want some help?" Kat said as she walked over.

"Nah they're just about done."

While I was serving up our breakfast, I asked Kat where Dad was.

"Oh I don't think you will be seeing him at all today" came her reply

"Well I think I'll go and have a shower" I said as I finished my breakfast and put the dishes in the dishwasher

Walking up to my bedroom, the events of last night began to re-play in my mind. I can't believe I did that. I can't believe _we_ did that. It was as though we had been doing that kind of stuff together for years. Granted Troy was somewhat of a pro, but it all felt so…natural…

Turning on the shower I turned towards the mirror and as I took off my shirt I found a small bruise just above my collar bone. Oh CRAP! A hickey! Of all things! A goddamned hickey! My day cannot get worse. Getting in the shower, I let the warm water wash over me and calm me down. I could feel the stress flowing off my shoulders just as the water did.

After spending far too long in the shower, I got out, wrapped a towel around me and walked into my bedroom to get changed. Glancing at my phone, I found a message waiting for me

_Couldn't wait any longer. What do u wanna do 2day?_

_Xx the gentleman_

Laughing, I looked at the time, 8.30. Not too bad. He waited 5 hours. Still not a 'decent' hour of the day. If I wasn't still kinda running on New Zealand time, I would be extremely pissed.

Letting him stew for a little longer, I took my time getting dressed and drying my hair. _Then _I replied.

_I have no idea. You're the local_

He replied in an instant

_Good point. Ill pick you up at 10_

Hmmm….what to wear…

--

Walking up to the front door of Gabriella's house, I realised I was nervous, like this was my first date or something. I looked down, inspecting my outfit hoping that I was dressed reasonably presentable, in my jeans and blue polo shirt. Knocking on the door, I heard Gabriella instantly yell out to Kat that she was going now, and then thumping as she ran down the stairs to greet me at the door.

"Hey!" She exclaimed as she yanked open the door

"Hey. Are you ok? You look kinda flustered…"

"Nah, I'm fine. Just Kat being mean to me. You ready to go?"

"Yeah sure"

--

Oh thank god I wasn't underdressed. I had spent a good hour trying to decide what to wear. I ended up deciding on my black knee length skinny jeans, a purple v-neck shirt and my matching purple low-cut chucks. I had to leave my hair down to cover up the hickey. I reminded myself to kill him for that later. I was still surprised Troy had asked me to do something with him today.

As we got in the car and began driving down the road, I turned to him and asked, "so what are we going to do today 'Gentleman'?"

Chuckling, Troy gave me a cheeky grin. "that's a surprise."

"Ok. Well how long is it going to take to get there?"

"Oh only about 10minutes"

"Were going to the mall aren't we?"

"No-wait-what?" Troy looked at me in confusion. "How'd you know?"

"That's the only thing of interest 10 minutes drive from my house."

Laughing, he grumbled, "way to kill a surprise brie"

--

Once we arrived at the mall, I took Gabriella's hand and led her over to the booth at the food court that my friends and I usually sat at.

"Hey man! What's up?" Chad exclaimed as we got closer

"And this must be Gabriella…?" Zeke asked, "It's nice to finally meet you," he said as he stuck out his hand for Gabriella to shake. She looked at me slightly scared as Zeke grasped her hand

"All of our parents are friends. Kat and Stephen haven't stopped talking about you since they found out you were coming over. And then it got worse when you finally got here" Chad explained. Gabriella, looking slightly relieved, sat down between me and Zeke.

"It's nice to meet you guys too. Id like to say finally but no-ones talked to me about you yet" she said laughing

"Well that just saves us from embarrassing stories being told!" Chad laughed

"This is Chad and Zeke by the way" I said indicating to the two boys. "And the girls are…?"

"Oh they went to the bathroom….Together…chick thing. No offense."

"None taken"

Troy's friends seemed pretty cool. They were typical guys, dirty jokes and all that. But they were pretty easy to get along with. After a few minutes, two girls came and sat at the booth with us.

"Gabi!" one of them said "I'm Sharpay. It's so good to finally meet you! Troy's told us so much about you!" she exclaimed as she put her hand across the table for me to shake. Troy covered his face with his hand.

"And I'm Taylor. Sharpay here is well known for putting her foot in her mouth. Sorry Troy."

"Oh! Whoops! Sorry Troy! So how do you like being in the U.S.? Big change?"

"Well yeah… it's been a pretty big move, but I'm slowly getting used to it."

"I can imagine! You're going to like our school so much though," Taylor said

"Hell yeah! Senior years gonna be awesome!" Chad exclaimed as he pumped his fist in the air.

They all seemed genuinely interested in me and my life in New Zealand. They asked me lots of questions, "did people really wear grass skirts?" **(A/n. very rarely lol) **"Why are you called kiwis?" **(a/n. no cool reason for that. Just cos our national bird is a kiwi.) **"Do you have TV?" **(A/n. yes. Yes we do. lol) **that was from Chad. I soon learnt that he wasn't erm, 'all there'…

"Well Gabi, even though I'm sure you'd like to sit here and listen to Chad's 'interesting' questions, would you like to do a spot of shopping?" Taylor asked. I looked at Troy and said,"do you mind?"

"Nah go for it. We'll catch up later."

I began to walk away with the girls, but I felt a hand grab my wrist and suddenly I was being pulled backwards towards Troy for a quick kiss. As I once again walked away with Taylor and Sharpay, I felt as though I was walking on air…

--

"Sooo… you like her don't you?" Chad asked

"Way to be subtle bro" Zeke said as he threw a basketball at Chad

Shrugging my shoulders and muttering "I dunno," I turned to look at the surfboards.

"Come on man! You've never willingly brought a chick out with us! Normally you take her to dinner and a movie and then back to her place for sex. That's it. No after anything"

"Yeah man. You never stick around after the sex!" Chad said loudly earning us some angry looks from a lady with her young son.

"Man be quiet!" Zeke said as he smacked Chad across the back of the head.

"I dunno guys. I've known her like less than 24hours. I don't know her well enough to like her like that."

"Dude. You haven't stopped talking about how cool she seems and how much you wanna get to know her since you met her last week!"

"Yeah man. Just admit it! You have a crush on her!" Chad said as he pranced around like a little girl.

Troy just blushed and inspected another basketball

"And here I thought Troy Bolton didn't have crushes" Zeke laughed as Troy threw the ball at him, narrowly missing his nose.

--

"Troy likes you"

"I have no idea how Zeke puts up with you Shar." Taylor said as she walked past us into the clothing store.

"What do you mean he likes me?"

"Well for one, Troy never brings girls out with us. He doesn't want us to get attached to the girls or something. And secondly, he never sticks with a girl after they've had sex. Not even a pretty one like you" Taylor explained

"Wait, but me and him haven't–"

"Yeah you have. You guys had sex last night!" Sharpay said with an excited grin on her face as she found her first outfit to try on.

"Again! Foot. Mouth. You have a problem Shar!"

"He told you?! I can't believe that!" I said absolutely mortified

"Well not exactly. We guessed. But also your, erm, hickey gave it away."

Ohmygod! This could not get worse! I thought as I began searching through the racks of clothing.

"So, um, why doesn't he bring girls out with you guys?"

"He's more or less a man-whore." Taylor said matter of factly

Laughing I continued inspecting the shirts on the rack in front of me.

"All the girls want him-"

"Except us!" interrupted Taylor

"Good point-and all the guys want to be him. He just uses that to his advantage." Sharpay said from the changing room

"So he sleeps around 'cos he thinks it's his right?"

"Well putting it like that, it doesn't sound very nice…"

"Well what exactly is the nice way of putting it? I guess he's the basketball captain as well? And the class president. Oh! And he's gonna be voted prom king too?"

"Well… he's not the class president; he's too naughty for that. And he's not the prom king – yet. But he _is_ the basketball captain…" Taylor said sounding slightly deflated.

"Oh great! So I like the most popular guy in school!"

_Dear god,_

_Good to see you worked really hard on that 'preventing me from doing anything stupid again' plan of ours._

_Amen – oh it's no use! It won't help me anyway!_

"So you do like him!" Sharpay and Taylor squealed excitedly

"Yea-no-wait! That's not the point!"

"Yeah it is! You fell for Troy!" Taylor exclaimed as she jumped up and down clapping her hands.

Sharpay soon joined in. wow. These girls are good.

--

"So how do you think Gabi's gonna take it when she finds out that you're a man whore?" Chad asked as he tried on yet another pair of basketball sneakers. I swear he was a girl in a past life.

"What do ya mean? How's she gonna find out that I have a bit of a rep with the ladies? "

Chad and Zeke looked at each other then turned to me and said, "Sharpay "

"Nah the girls wouldn't do that to me. "

"Well what about when school starts? You're gonna have girls hanging off you like normal."

"Ill just make it known that I'm unavailable."

"What? Are you gonna ask her to be your girlfriend? Man you've only known her for like 18 hours" Zeke said as he looked at his watch

"Dude! Theres 3 weeks till school starts. Ive got time! Its all good!"

"Awww! My little boys all growed up!" Chad said as he slapped me on the back and wiped a fake tear from his eye. Just then, my phone received a message from Gabriella

_Hiya manwhore_

_Were hungry. Meet us at foodcourt in 10_

Im gonna kill those girls

--

Having got our food from the various food franchises, we sat at our usual booth and began eating. Looking across the room I spotted the last person I wanted to see walking towards us. Natalie. The most pain in the arse, obsessive, annoying cheerleader. And she has it in her head that after one date 2 years ago, we are meant to be together. Every chance she gets, she tries to get me to 'fall in love with her'. And I can safely say that aint gonna happen.

"hey sweetie!" she said as she got closer

"excuse me?" Gabriella coughed as she almost choked on her burger

"don't listen to anything she says, whatever you do" I told her as I put my am over her shoulders

"Hey baby. You haven't been returning my calls" Natalie whinged in that sickly fake voice of hers. I could see Taylor rolling her eyes and I could feel Gabriella tense as Natalie sat down next to me.

"Um sorry, but what do you think youre doing?" Gabriella asked as she lent over me to look at Natalie

"what does it look like im doing?"

"it looks like your making a move on my boyfriend"

"boyfriend?!"

Everyones eyes flew to Gabriella. Then back to Natalie and back to Gabriella again.

"uh yea!"

"hes not your boyfriend! Troy doesn't have girlfriends! He just has sluts that he sleeps with! Except for me of course!"

"um no. im Troys girlfriend. And you're the cheap slut that _wants_ to sleep with him!"

"your not with her are you Troy?"

"uh…um…yeah u am"

Natalie gasped as she looked at Gabriella, then me, then around the rest of the group, and then back to me again.

"you've got to be kidding me! Ive been willing to be your girlfriend for 2 years and you always say that you don't have girlfriends! Then all of a sudden your with… _HER!!_" Natalie yelled as she stormed away

"and that was Natalie" Sharpay kindly explained

"shes been after Troy for years. You learn to ignore her" Zeke offered

As everyone got back to their meals I leant down to whisper in Gabriellas ear, "boyfriend?"

Smiling at me, she said "yeah. It was the first thing I could think of."

--

The group had convinced me to join them for their annual movie night. Annual as in when everyone was free Troy told me. Sitting in the cinema between Troy and Chad, I felt accepted. There was no awkwardness or tension. Everything was so natural, like I had known the group for years. After my argument with Natalie, the group seemed to like me more than before hand. I did catch Zeke asking Troy to explain the girlfriend/boyfriend situation, but thank god Troy had decided it was best to forget about it. Shortly after the movie had started Troy rested his arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. The movie was about some undercover cops in a high school or something. It didn't seem too interesting, but it didn't really matter because my mind was somewhere else entirely.

Within 24 hours I had 'officially' met a boy, slept with him, spent the day with him and his friends and I was now on a 'date' with him. It seemed so backwards and rushed. It took Troy and me 6 hours to go from complete strangers, to sex. My life was turning into a crappy chick-lit **(a/n. chick lit chick literature a.k.a. chick flick in a book…)**

**--**

I could tell Gabriella wasn't interested in the movie. Her laughs were delayed, she didn't flinch when there was a shoot out or a fight. She didn't even 'awwwww' at the 'I love you'. the only question on my mind was, 'what is she thinking about?'

--

Throughout the movie I had decided, what the heck?! Im only here for a few months then in going back to new Zealand. I may as well make the most of it!

Snapping out of my thoughts, I realised that the movie was almost over. Trying to pay attention to the last 10 minutes, I learnt that it was a cheap and crappy movie. Not even worth watching for free on the internet.

After saying goodbye to the others and swapping phone numbers with them, I got into Troys car and we began the journey home.

"so what do you think of them? I know theyre a bit weird…"

"no. theyre really cool. They remind me a lot of my friends back home."

"that's good. They really liked you too."

After a few moments of silence, I couldn't stand it any longer,

"So I hear you have a bit of a reputation at your school…more than you told me last night. Care to explain?"

"I must remember to kill Sharpay later"

"actually it was Taylor. But carry on…"

"Come on! That's not fair! I don't ask you stuff about your past!"

"need I remind you of how I ended in tears last night?"

"oh come on! That was an accident!"

Laughing, I gave him my best 'do it or else' face

"oh all right! Well as I said last night, im not very good at the whole relationship thing, so I guess after breaking the wrong heart, one of the girls decided to fight back and give me a bad rep"

Laughing I said, "Alright, if you think that's what it is then I wont burst your bubble"

"thank you"

Pulling into my driveway, I saw that there were no lights on, Dad and Kat were out. So I was going to be home alone. Damn it! Looking at Troy, I was about to ask if he wanted to come in, when he said he would be a gentleman and stay with me until Dad and Kat got home, so I didn't have to be alone.

I went upstairs to my bathroom so I could get changed. When I walked out I saw Troy lying on my bed with the TV remote in his hand, channel surfing.

"Quite comfortable are we?"

"why yes thank-you"

I went over and lay on the other side of the bed focussing my gaze on the tv.

"I wont bite you know"

"actually you already did" I said as I moved my hair that was covering my hickey.

"I did that? Sorry. Heat of the moment and all that"

"its fine" I said as I moved closer to him so that he could put an arm under my waist. I snuggled a little closer to him. Soon he had his head buried in my neck kissing it

"what are you doing?"

"I was gonna offer to even up the other side for you"

"get out!" I said as I pushed his head away from my neck laughing

"Come on! You know you liked it" he said wagging his eyebrows

Oh two can play at that game boy! I rolled over and said "you know I did. When are we going to do it again?"

I moved my face so my mouth was millimetres away from his and ran my fingers down his chest, stopping just before I reached his belt

"whenever you want babe" he replied as he pulled my leg to rest on top of his, giving him 'easier access' I guess

"how about now?" there was no way I was gonna give into this fight. I put my hand behind his head and guided his mouth to follow mine as I lay back on the bed.

Just as our lips touched, there was a loud bang from the TV. Someone on some show had just been shot. Jumping slightly we banged our foreheads together. Groaning Troy rolled over with a hand on his forehead. "im sorry!" I exclaimed rying not to laugh, but not not succeeding.

"That hurt! Man you have a hard head!"

Laughing I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips

"if I get a kiss every time I hurt myself, I think ill take up boxing!"

"Ha-ha. very funny!" I lent down and gave him another quick kiss on the lips. Troy's hand shot out and stopped my head from pulling away.

"uh-uh. Youre not getting away that easy!" he said as he pulled me back for more kisses.

--

I could lie here making out with Gabriella forever. The only problem with it was how turned on I got from a basic kiss. I could never have a PDA with her. Too embarrassing. After a few minutes of making out, Gabriella began to make little moaning noises, which I guess meant she was enjoying this as much as I was. Pushing her onto her back, I began a trail of kisses down her neck, as I searched for a way to remove her shirt. Thankfully Gabriella understood what I was trying to do and sat up to pull her shirt over her head. Then she pulled my shirt off me and began running her hands over my chest. She was going to be the death of me if I wasn't careful.

--

I don't quite know how it got to this point again, but I wasn't complaining. Troy had rolled onto his back, and pulled me down on top of him. I began to place small lazy kisses on his neck.

"you have no idea what you do to me" he said. I liked the way his voice sounded like he was struggling to control his breathing. It told me that he was as worked up by this as I was.

"I think I have a fair idea" I said cheekily as I moved my hand down to begin undoing his belt.

Groaning, he put his hand over mine to stop my from going any further with my intentions and rolled us over so we were lying side by side.

"Do you think were moving too fast?"

"are you serious?" I said with a hint of laughter in my voice, "weve already done this"

"yeah I know, but… I mean, don't you think we should slow down a bit? Get to know each other better?"

"youre kidding right? You don't seriously think we need to slow down? Its not like you've never had sex with anyone before. Infact from what I hear, your quite the master at it!" I was starting to get angry with him for some reason. I don't really know why but my blood was really starting to boil. Getting off the bed and out of Troys warm embrace, I grabbed my shirt and walked into my bathroom slamming the door behind me.

"Brie! Come on! I thought I explained that! I don't want you to just be some girl I call for a quickie in the middle of the night!"

"Oh so you do have girls you call just for sex!" I yelled as I threw his shirt at him and began pushing him out of my room

"Brie! Calm down! Don't do this! GABRIELLA!"

"WHAT?!"

--

At that point the only thing that I could think to do was kiss her. So I did. Now lets just say the hand print on my face could last a few days. Once I got home, I just lay starfished on my bed staring at the ceiling. Wondering what the hell had happened. I had no idea why she had over reacted so badly. Just as I started to come up with some reasons for her sudden anger, my phone rang.

"yeah?" I said as I answered it

"yo dude! Whats up?!" it was Chad, "are you and Gabriella busy? I just got a call about an awesome party at Jasons place! His parents went away for the week. All the beer you can drink man! Are you guys interested?"

"chad, do you really think that if I was with Gabriella right now, id be answering my phone?"

"oh true. What happened bro?"

After explaining what happened between me and Gabriella to Chad, all he could say was "chicks".

"Yeah man. Anyway, pick me up in 10 minutes"

"sweet bro. Zeke just told me the girls are picking up Gabriella and theyre gonna meet us there"

"sweet as. ill see you soon."

**Wow. That was a really long chapter. I hope you liked it though. Ive got about one more chapter that's pre written and then after that im gonna have to get the creative juices flowing! I kinda have an idea for whats gonna happen, but if you guys wanna give me ideas that would be great!**

**Peace! GreaseGirl**


	6. It is

**Wow. I just re-read the last chapter. I'm sorry lol I didn't mean for it to be so long! On Word, it was 17 pages…my bad…I just kept typing and tying and typing…and…well you get my point lol thanks heaps for your reviews though!**

**Soooo…. I wanna play a game with all of u. well I'm guessing the 6 people who have my story on alert and the 2 who have it in their favorites (Squeeee you guys are awesome) are the most likely people to play, but everyone's invited! I want you guys to send me a line, or a quote or even an entire conversation that you want a character or characters to say/have. So send em in and tell me who you want to say it and in what context (if it's necessary) and ill try and work it in. I thought it could be a fun way of creating a story.**

**This story needs more drama. I kinda know where it's going, but I aint sure HOW its gonna get there lol so honestly guys, your ideas would be great. Remember, no idea is a bad one. If it doesn't quite work, it can always be adapted so that it does. Oh I forgot, once again, I own nothing that you recognize.**

After Taylor and Sharpay picked me up, we drove to 'Jasons' house. Sharpay explained that Jason was on the basketball team with the guys and that his parents were away for the week, so an impromptu party was planned. Walking in, I was relieved to see that no one even batted an eyelid at 'the new girl'/ and I was also thankful that I was wearing the right kind of clothes. Superficial, I know, but this wouldn't really be a normal thing for me to be doing if I was back home. But i'm having a fresh start. So I decided on black 'short shorts', a bright pink singlet and matching flats. And just incase it got cold (yes I sound like a grandma) I had finished the outfit off with a half black cardigan. And I still had to wear my hair down thanks to Troy. Damn boys. My outfit was relatively similar to that of many of the girls, so I didn't feel out of place.

Taylor and Sharpay guided me over to meet Jason. He was pretty cute. Tanned skin, brown eyes, longish dark hair. He had a cute smile too, not like Troy's though. Grrrr!! Get out of my head you pain in the ass boy!!

Once I had a drink, Jason and I went out the back to talk some more. He asked the obvious questions you ask when you first meet someone, "What do you do for fun?" "Favorite movies?" "What kind of music are you into?" blah blah blah. We were having a really good time. Laughing, talking, and joking around. We talked about people at the party, who was who, the people to stay away from; the rest of the basketball team, the list went on and on.

"That girl over there is Natalie, she's -"

"A bitch?"

"How'd you guess?"

"I had a run-in with her this afternoon while we were at the mall."

"Ah. Well I can tell you that the basketball team loves you already."

Laughing along with Jason, I realized that Troy had been right. We didn't know anything about each other. At the country club we had talked about out parents and how the 'rich people functions' usually worked. Even at the mall today, we barely had a chance to get to know each other. And it kinda sucked. I hope he gets here soon. Grrrr I hate being wrong.

- - -

Walking into the party with Chad and Zeke, I immediately spotted Sharpay and Taylor talking with some girls from school. When Sharpay saw me walking towards them, she pointed outside and mouthed 'Gabi', so I veered off through the big doors heading to the outdoor courtyard. Standing behind a hedge, I could hear two people talking. Listening for a moment, I figured that it was Gabriella and Jason.

"So are you and Troy good friends?"

"Yeah we've been friends since…our first year of school I think. Were pretty close. Not as close as he is with the other four though!"

"Yeah, they're a pretty tight knit group aren't they?"

"You can say that again! I remember once when we must've been about 14, these older kids were picking on Sharpay 'cos she had her hair in these little pony tails" he imitated a girl with pony tails which left Gabriella giggling, "and Troy and the guys went and beat up these 'big kids' no sweat. The guys must've been 16 of 17. Those 5 are like family. It's always been like that"

"Beating the guys up, probably wasn't the best idea to go with…"

"No, but the guys quit bullying everyone. In fact I think they even transferred schools"

I could hear Gabriella laughing again

"Yeah I can imagine Troy doing that though. You know its funny, I've known him for like… a day! But I feel like i've known him for my whole life"

"Yeah he's like that with some people. You'll find that most of the time, people either love him, or they hate him. He seems to be the same about most people too. Atleast that's the way he appears to be. But boy you _will _know if he doesn't like you."

"I think on the inside, he's a pretty complex guy. Ya know, with feelings and stuff?" Gabriella giggled

Seeing this as my opportunity to interrupt them, I coughed slightly and walked out from behind the hedge over to the two of them.

"Speak of the Devil! Hey man! How's it been?" Jason asked

"Oh you know, same as normal" I replied as we did our little team handshake thingy. Looking at Gabriella, I could tell she was slightly embarrassed, as though she was caught doing something she shouldn't be.

"Well man, id better get back to the party, but I will see you later on. You should come to our practice on Friday Gabi. It'll give you a chance to meet the rest of the team before school starts"

"Yeah, definitely. Ill see ya then!"

--

"So how long were you listening for?" I decided that after a few moments of silence, I should speak up.

"Not too long"

"I'm really sorry about earlier" I said as I lifted my face to look at him, so he could tell that I meant it. "You were right. We don't actually know much about each other" I said with a quiet nervous laugh

"Well I meant what I said; I don't want you to think your just sex"

"I don't"

"Good"

"Do you realize this past day has been like a part of a third-rate mills and boon book? It doesn't seem real"

"Mills and boon?"

"Dodgy romance book?"

"Oh" he said laughing, "I know exactly what you mean. But it is"

"Is what?"

"It is real." Troy said as he lifted my hand to give it a quick kiss.

**So that's the end of the stuff I had pre-written. Hope you guys liked it.**

**Seriously! Help me here!**

**Send me your ideas; I wanna know where you guys want the story to go. The sooner you do, the sooner I can update!**

**You know you love me (hehe)**

**Xoxo**

**GreaseGurl**


	7. Questions and a practice

**Hey guys!**

**So I was re-reading the previous chapters just to get ideas and all that stuff, and MY GOD! I have some really bad spelling mistakes and completely wrong words in places. I'm surprised you guys can even understand what I've been writing! Lol I'm so sorry!**

**I haven't got any ideas from you guys yet so I'm writing pretty much the first thing that comes to my head lalb (laugh a little bit) I hope this chapter is ok for you guys. I know your gonna love chapter 9. I wrote it the other night and it's just a random gap-filler, but I personally love it! But I need ideas and stuff for the chapters after! Ok so now I'm sounding desperate…**

**Well here you go (I own nothing)**

"So what's your next question?" Gabriella asked

We were sitting at the local park on the Friday after the party. The party itself had been relatively uneventful, as had the next day.

"Hmmm… what did you wanna be when you were growing up?"

"Oh wow. This is embarrassing… I wanted to be a ballerina…and you?"

We had decided the best way to get to know each other was to simply ask questions. The first question that popped into our heads, we asked. And then we answered. Straight up, no lies.

"My first was Superman"

"Superman?" she said as she laughed at me

"Come on! I was 7!"

"I'm sorry! It's just that… I can picture you running around with your undies on the outside of your pants!"

"Man that is so not a nice picture! Your turn!"

"Ok…hmmm… man I suck at coming up with questions… what was your first kiss like?"

"That's a mean one!"

"You've got to answer! I've answered all of your questions"

"Ok ok… well mine was pretty bad… I was 12. we had just been to the movies and I was walking her to the door, and just as our lips touched, her dad came running out, swearing at me and cursing me and – ugh! It was scary! I think she was more embarrassed though, cos she moved to Texas pretty soon after"

"Oh that's nothing! Me and this guy-"

"Damn, I was hoping it would be a girl"

"Shut up - _anyway_ me and this guy went to the movies, blah blah blah, and then when he was walking me to my door, he kissed me. But it was like he was trying to suck off my face. It was disgusting! _Then_ he kept trying to kiss me EVERYWHERE!"

I found that I enjoyed making Gabriella laugh. There was this light in her eyes every time she was sincerely laughing. Her smile could light up a room. After more questions and lots more laughter, we decided to go and get ice cream.

--

"Cookies and cream right?" Troy asked

"You remembered" I said while batting my eyelashes cheesily

"Nah. Lucky guess" He said handing me the ice cream

"Uh huh. Whatever"

"So are you gonna come to my training this afternoon?"

"Hmmm… Nah I'm sure I can find something more important to do"

"Oh come on! Don't be like that!"

"I'm kidding! Of course ill be there. I gotta start scoping out the talent anyway"

Troy groaned and rolled his eyes at me "come on Brie! Please don't start perving on my friends!"

Laughing I reached up and touched my lips to troy's. "Don't worry. I'll wait till school starts"

"Thanks heaps Brie"

--

Sharpay and Taylor once again picked me up, only this time we were headed to East High. We were going to watch the guys' basketball practice.

"Sooo…are you gonna tell us what you guys did today?" Sharpay asked as she turned to look at me in the backseat

"Nope."

"Oooo that means something important happened!"

"Tay, calm down. Nothing happened. We just talked. That's it."

"Uh huh. If that's what you say"

"So are you excited about seeing Troy all hot and sweaty? Oh wait. You've already seen that!" laughed Sharpay as we pulled into the school car park

"Ha-ha. Very funny Shar. So I'm guessing this is the famous East High?" I questioned

"Oh I wonder what gave it away" Taylor said sarcastically

"Could it have been the giant East High sign?" I laughed

To be honest, I was really nervous about going to the practice. I had no idea how I should act around Troy. Taylor and Sharpay had told me how 'respected' and well known he was in the school because of his reputation of being a man-whore. So I kinda guessed he would want to keep it that way. I know. It made no sense to me how being known as a man-whore is a good thing, but apparently at East High it is. So in the end, I had decided that I would just act as his friend, and _not_ like we had slept together.

"Oh geez! Were late!" Sharpay said as she finally found a park.

"Why are there so many cars?"

"Oh you're so new it's cute!" Taylor laughed (**a/n; sound familiar?) **"You see, every 6 weeks, the team has a 'viewing practice'. Which means people can come and watch."

"Not to perve or anything. Cos that would be stupid" interrupted Sharpay

"And other teams can come and see what they're up against. But we suspect the _real_ reason Troy put forward the idea was to get girls"

"Oh of course" I laughed

As we walked through the halls of East High, I could hear cheering. When we walked through the doors into the gym I was absolutely gobsmacked

"This is a _practice_?!"

"_Viewing _practice!" Sharpay corrected

Taylor had been right about Troy's plan. The stand was full. Of girls. _Screaming _girls_._ There were, however, 3 boys sitting directly in the centre of the stand with blue and yellow jackets on.

Seeing me looking at the 3 boys, Sharpay pushed me down to sit on the front row of the stand, between the two of them.

"The one with the blonde hair is Alistair. The brown haired one is Timothy, a.k.a. Goose, and the one staring at you is Justin Arnold. They're from West High"

"Wow. You say it like it's a curse to say his name or something"

"Around here? It is. You see West High is our biggest rival. And Justin is West Highs 'Troy Bolton'"

"Except Troy's heaps better" said Sharpay

"Well if the rivalries' so major, why are they here?"

"To see what they're up against before the season starts"

"Oh. But why is –"

"Good afternoon ladies! It's about time you three showed up! The guys have been moping around the court since we started"

"Hey coach Bolton!" Sharpay laughed

"Come on girls! How many times have we been through this? Its _Jack _until school starts" he said as he sat beside Sharpay

"Well they're looking good _Jack" _Sharpay said laughing

"Yes they are, aren't they? Now you," he said pointing at me,"you have got to spend more time with my son. He's been so much… happier this week. His games even improved"

"Maybe it's all the _fun_ they've been having" laughed Taylor and I shot her a death glare

"what ever it is, keep it up" jack stood up and blew his whistle, turning back to us he said, "ill see ya later girls" then he turned his attention back to the court "take a break guys, ill be back in 5"

--

Scanning the crowd, I easily spotted Alistair, Goose and Justin. Pffft! I bet they're absolutely crapping themselves. So far the practice had gone great. I had found myself showing off, just in case Gabriella was watching me. Looking intently at Justin, I readied myself for our usual staring contest, but Justin was looking at something at the base of the stand. Or rather, someone. He was staring at Gabriella. _My _Gabriella. I could feel my blood begin to boil. I had originally decided that I would act as though the two of us were no more than friends at the practice. Simply so I didn't freak her out, or start any gossip about her before school had even started. But I hadn't counted on Justin Arnold.

Chad and Zeke were already sitting with their respective girlfriends and Gabriella was walking towards me.

"Wow, the girls really like watching you play shirtless" she laughed. I noticed she was standing away from me, putting some distance between us

I laughed and stepped closer so I could wrap my arms around her,"Well what can I say? I'm hot and they know it"

Gabriella just looked at me questioningly and then looked down at my arms. I removed one of my arms and lifted her chin to look at me.

"Troy. You've got a rep remember? What will everyone think?"

"Don't care" I said as I kissed her

--

I'm sure I heard the entire gym gasp when Troy wrapped his arms around me. And then when he kissed me? I heard all the guns being cocked. Troy sure was a big deal around here. I had read about high schools like this in books and seen them in movies, but I didn't know they actually existed. I guessed that from now on, I would have to watch for people pretending to be my friends and girls trying to kill me so they could get to Troy.

"Don't panic" Troy whispered

"Ill try not to"

Troy just laughed

"Hey Gabi! Good to see you turned up!" Jason said as he got closer to us, "did you see Justin? They are shitting themselves. We are so gonna own them at the championships. Oh and Gabi, it looks as though you have a new fan. Justin couldn't keep his eyes off you"

I felt Troy tense up.

"Hmmm. He is kinda cute…" when I said that I could feel Troy's hands turn to fists and his jaw lock in determination

"I might go and talk to him when you guys go back on"

When I saw the muscle in Troy's jaw twitch I almost laughed. He was jealous! That explains why he kissed me. He was marking his territory!

"Well I'm gonna go and get a drink. It's been quite a run around. Ill catch up with you after Gabi"

"Yea see ya" then i turned to look at Troy again, "Jealous much?" I laughed. Troy kept looking straight over my head at Justin in the stands.

"Troy" I said as I waved my hand in front of his face

"What?"

"I was joking. I'm not gonna go and talk to him. And he is so not cute" I felt him start to relax, "besides, I only have eyes for one basketball star" I ended dramatically. At this he laughed and kissed me once again.

"Are you gonna come over after practice? My parents are going out" he said as he nuzzled my neck

I pushed his head away from my neck. I didn't need another hickey

"Are you implying that you want something?"

"Maybe" he said with a cheeky grin

"And here I thought I wasn't just sex to you"

"Your not. But it doesn't mean we can't still do it"

I could only laugh. I could hear some desperation in his voice.

"Alright. Ill come over. But no funny business. It will be a G-rated visit."

"G for Gabriella?"

"Yes. As in, I'm in charge"

--

Oooo… I think I would like Gabriella being in charge…

"Alright team! Back on court!"

"I gotta go Brie, but wait for me to finish and ill take you back to mine"

"Oh if I have to. I guess I could wait around"

I laughed and lent down to kiss her again, then ran onto the court.

"So you finally decided?"

"What do ya mean Chad?"

"You asked her to be your girlfriend"

"Nup."

"Well then what was that?" Zeke asked

"Justin was looking at her with that sick look on his face"

"Oh so you got jealous?"

I glared at the two of them, standing there with their knowing grins. I bent down and picked up one of the balls that were rolling around and threw it at the hoop, sending it through with a swish. How are they failing every class but gym, yet they can read my mind?

**Lovin'.Jashley, you rock! You've reviewed almost all of my chapters lol and its great knowing that at least one person likes my story lol and Amy I'm getting disappointed in you, your becoming slack with your reviews. only kidding. You know I lub you!**

**Later guys!**


	8. Girlfriend

****

I am so sorry to anyone who has tried to review my story anonymously. (As I explained a couple of chapters ago, I am mentally blonde. As in, I could win a blonde competition without even trying. Again, no offense to any blondes) I accidentally left the anonymous review thingy disabled… my bad… I also decided that the chapter 9 I had planned will be pushed back a little bit… maybe chapter 10 or 11 now… sorry…

): **I own nothing :(**

"So at some point your gonna have to explain to me the rules of Basketball, 'cos that made _no_ sense to me"

Laughing I looked at Gabriella. She still had a huge smile plastered on her face from the practice. I could hear her cheering louder than anyone else there. And that's saying something. Sharpay's pretty loud.

"You looked pretty into it though"

We were in my truck, on the way back to my house for some 'alone time'. G rated of course!

"Yeah it was awesome! You're pretty good at it!"

"Don't know it" I said as I winked at her and put my hand on her thigh

"No. you sucked at _that_. I meant you were good at basketball."

"Ouch" I said as I placed a hand over my heart. "Let me try again. I promise ill do a better job"

"What's with you tonight? You have sex on the brain!"

"I just liked it so much last time, I was hoping for a repeat performance"

"That ships already sailed boy" she said as she shoved my wandering hand away.

Laughing I brushed her fringe away from her eyes. "You know I'm joking right? I meant what I said the other night"** (a/n: awwww nice tender moment! Wait. Why am I 'awwwwing'?! IM WRITING THE STORY!)**

"Troy stop it! I know your joking! Look at me! I. am. Not. Sharpay! I understand these things!"

I could only laugh

"I know you don't wanna treat me like all the other girls-"

"Please don't say 'all the other girls'. It sounds bad."

Gabriella laughed before continuing, "You proved that to me tonight when you kissed me in front of everyone. Oh, good hiding of that jealousy you had goin' on by the way"

"Hey! I didn't like the way he was looking at you alright?"

"You're a real knight in shinning armor then aren't you?"

"I try" I said as I entwined our fingers

--

"Well home sweet home" Troy said as he opened the front door for me. Wow. His place was huge. I had a hard enough time trying to remember my way around my own house, and that was half the size of this one.

"Where'd your parents go?"

"Don't know. And to be honest I don't really care" Troy said as he pushed me up against the wall in the hallway, putting his arms on either side of me so I couldn't escape. As he lent down to give me a kiss I pushed him away.

"G rated remember Troy"

Troy threw his head back and groaned then pushed himself off the wall. Then he grabbed my hand and led me up the stairs to his room.

"Ill give you the grand tour later. Right now I really can't be bothered. The main room you need to know is my bedroom. And here it is…" Troy opened the door to his room like one of those lame game show hosts

"Wow Troy. It's..." I looked around his room"…a bomb site! I thought I was messy" I laughed

His floor was, quite literally, covered in clothes.

He laughed while I carefully entered his room

"I'm just gonna have a quick shower. Make yourself at home. I won't be long" Troy said as he walked into his ensuite and shut the door.

"Ha! Make myself at home? I can barely even find somewhere to sit" I muttered to myself. Hanging on the TV aerial was a pair of blue boxers. On the TV was a green t-shirt and on the stereo beside it was… a bra?

I walked over to inspect the item of clothing on the stereo. Yup. It was most definitely a bra. A red lacy number. I picked it up with two fingers as though it was diseased. Geeez Troy. You could have at least cleaned up. I threw it onto his unmade bed, and then pulled up the sheets and blankets so I would have a place to sit.

I sat down and looked around the room once again. Ew. Is that…?

"God Troy! You're so gross!" I stood up and knelt down in the corner to inspect the matching pair of panties. Ick! I don't even wanna think about how they got here. I threw them on the bed beside the bra. As I looked around once again, I noticed there were _lots_ of bras and panties lying around the room. Sharpay and Taylor hadn't been kidding. He really was a man-whore. I knelt down, once again, and got to work.

--

I walked out of the bathroom with a pair of boxers on and my towel around my neck.

"Hey brie, do you want a-" she was sitting on my bed, which had been made. And beside her was a pile of "-oh shit…"

"So um, were these a present for me Troy?" she said as she walked closer to me

I could see my floor now, although all of my dirty clothes had been shoved in the corner. At least it looked relatively tidy

"Uh… yea? They're for you…?"

"So you brought me a giant pile of underwear, and then threw them around your room for me to find?"

"Yes…?"

"Good try Troy. You really need to clean your room more often" she laughed. Oh thank god she wasn't angry

"Geez you scared me Brie. I thought you were mad at me"

"I know. That's why it was so great. So what are you gonna do with your newly found treasures?"

"Um… return them to their owners?"

"Pffft. Like you could remember which set belongs to who."

"Sure I can. That dark blue set belongs to Stacy Harvey, and the pink set belongs to Michelle Danvers… or Anita Thomas… I think"

Gabriella just laughed at me. I walked towards the pile of underwear and began to put them into my washing hamper in another corner of my room. They could hide there and I would burn them later. Gabriella walked around my bed and lay down on the other side.

"I like my bed better" she said as she tried to get comfortable

"That's cos we've broken your bed in. maybe we could work on breaking in my bed now" I said in a fake seductive tone as pulled my jeans and t shirt on

"G rated" she said in a 'Troy stop it or else' tone

"Joking" I said as I gave her a quick kiss and lay down on the bed beside her

"I've been meaning to ask you, why were you in the CD store last week. I mean you obviously don't work there. You haven't been back since"

"Ooo are you stalking me Miss Montez?"

"No but you've spent more or less all of your time with me since then"

"My parents own the shop. One of the guys needed someone to cover their shift so I offered. Good thing I did" I laughed as I lent over and captured her lips once again

--

If he doesn't stop doing that I'm seriously gonna give up and just let him have what he obviously wants.

Somehow, he managed to get both of our shirts off and we were in a very heated make out session. Again.

Groaning, Troy broke away from the kiss and pushed himself up in a half-hearted push up.

"What happened to G-rated?"

"I was in charge the whole time"

"Oh yep. Sure you were" he replied laughing

Troy got up and found both of our shirts. Throwing mine at me, he asked if I wanted a drink

"Yea a coke would be good"

"Ok. Ill be back in a minute. Pick a movie to watch"

I jumped up, putting my shirt on and then began searching through the pile of DVDs beside the TV.

--

I really didn't want to stop kissing her, but I didn't have a choice. I don't think she would have been too happy with me if we had of gone any further. Considering she had already told me that she didn't want to go there tonight.

Grabbing the drinks off the bench, I began walking up the stairs to my room

"Hey. Good to see your comfortable"

Gabriella was starfished on my bed staring at the DVD menu on the screen

"Yup. You're on the floor. Sorry"

"Uh uh. You can lie on the floor" I said as I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder

"Troy! Let me down or so help me god you will pay!"

"Oh yea? What are you gonna do to me?" I laughed as I twirled her around the room "OW! You bit me!"

"I told you you'd pay"

"That was mean"

"Yea well you gave me a hickey! You deserved it!"

"What ever helps you sleep at night babe" I laughed as I dropped her on the bed, and lay down beside her, wrapping my arms around her waist

She grabbed the remote and pressed play, and then settled back into my arms to watch the movie.

"Hey Brie…"

"Hmmm?" she asked as she rolled over in my arms to look at me

"I know we've only known each other for a week-"

"Four days actually. Unless you count when we met at the CD store, then it would be six days"

I laughed before continuing, "Ok, I know we've only known each other for _four_ days, but do you wanna be my girlfriend? I mean everyone already thinks you are, so we may as well make it official"

"Be still my beating heart" she said dramatically as she placed her hand over her heart, "is Troy Bolton, the ultimate bad-boy-hottie-super-bum-playmaker-man-whore-player-dude asking me, Gabriella Montez to be his Girlfriend?"

Laughing, I nodded, "yeah I am"

"I thought Troy Bolton didn't have girlfriends? This day is a special day in East High History. Troy Bolton gets his first girlfriend"

"How do you know you're my first girlfriend?"

"I know a lot more than you think. I know that although you've slept with _a lot_ of the East High female population, you've never actually had a girlfriend"

"How do you know that?"

"Sharpay"

"Oh. You know far too much considering you've only been to East High once. And you were looking at me the whole time"

"I bet you don't even know some of the gossip that I know"

"Ha! Keep dreaming. I know everything"

"Did you know that Ashley Mitchell and Frankie Martin are dating?"

"What? No! Since when? Hang on! Do you even know who those people are?"

"Nope. But I still know more than you do"

"Fine Ill give you that. You didn't answer my question. Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Id love to"

"About time" I mumbled as I covered her mouth with mine

--

Ok. I am so over the G rating I put on this evening.

After about 10mintues of making out, and Troy not even making a move, I got a bit antsy.

I pulled his shirt over his head and I heard him groan into my mouth. Perfect! I thought, he definitely wanted things to be turned up a wee bit

"What happened to the G rating for this evening?"

"G for Gabriella. I'm still in charge"

As I began tugging at his belt, he began kissing my neck. I pulled away and looked into his gorgeous blue eyes

"Do you have an obsession with my neck or something?"

"Hmmm you could say that. Did you know that you moan my name every time I kiss you here?" he said as he placed a tiny feather light kiss on my neck

'Uh uh. And I don't care right now" I laughed as I pulled his head back for another kiss

**Ok. Enough for now. So this fully wasn't my best chapter. Wrote the end for the story a couple of nights ago… I just have no idea how its gonna get there… HELP! I've enabled the anonymous review thingy now, so everyone help! Lol**

**I'm on school holidays for the next week and a half, so the sooner the reviews come in with ideas the faster the story will be posted lol I should be able to get a couple of chapters posted before the end of the holidays! Yay me! No ones played my game yet ******** but Im still willing to play if anyone wants to send me some quotes!**

**p.s. no Amy. I am not writing you into the story.**

**Xoxo**

**See ya later alligator!**


	9. First Day

**Ok, so there has been a serious lack of reviews for the last chapter. I know it wasn't my best, but come on! You could still give me some encouragement! Lol. So I've got this chapter and two more written. I wrote them all in one day. THAT IS HOW BORED I HAVE BEEN! **

**And Yay! I have a plan for the story now!**

**I own nothing…**

Ok so you remember your first ever day at school right? How scary that was. Well multiply the scariness of that day by about 10. And then you will _still _be no where near how scared I am right now.

The last few weeks of the holidays passed by quickly. The six of us spent most of it together, hanging out at the park, going to the mall, watching movies at each others houses. We even had to go to another country club function. Only this time I managed to convince Troy to stay and socialise rather than run off like he usually would. And most nights Troy and I stayed at each others house – NOT DOING ANYTHING DODGEY for those of you that would assume we were.

Sharpay and Taylor had come over the previous night to pick out my outfit for my first day at East High. No, not _help_. They literally told me what to wear. After lots of 'discussing' they finally agreed on black skinny jeans, (thank god! Jeans!) A blue 'floaty' shirt (kinda like a really short dress) and some plain black flats. Sharpay told me that I didn't want to get too dressed up for the first day of school, cos people would think I was trying too hard, (Yeah. Cos I was really gonna get all dressed up for school) but that I needed to look as though I belonged. But she still banned me from wearing one of my beloved hoodies. She and Taylor picked the blue shirt cos it "matches Troy's eyes!" _Yay._

Once they had left, Troy called and told me that he was gonna pick me up in the morning and take me to school so we could arrive together. Again, _Yay. _Just what I wanted. To start my first day at a new school with everyone watching my every move, simply cos I walked into school with _Troy Bolton_.

Apparently I already had girls who wanted to kill me for 'stealing' their beloved Bolton. Not to mention Natalie, (the 'wicked bitch from the East' as I had dubbed her) who wanted my head. And from what I had heard, she was gonna stop at nothing till she brought me down.

When I finally got the courage to walk down the stairs without passing out from terror, I found Kat playing 'mummy dearest'. She had set out my breakfast and all of my school books that we had brought the previous day. I grabbed the books and shoved them into my satchel

"Did you have a good sleep sweetie?"

"Yeah dad" the whole 2 and a half hours were great!

"I made you an omelette for breakfast. I wasn't sure what you wanted in it so I just put tomato cheese and bacon… is that alright? I can make another one for you" Kat said

"No its fine. Thanks" I said with a strained smile on my face.

The three of us had definitely gotten closer in the time I had been here, but first thing in the morning was not the best time for me to be interacting with other people. I was getting better at it though!

"So is Troy taking you to school this morning?" my dad asked as he looked up from his paper

"Yeah he's picking me up soon"

"Well at least you will have him to look after you today"

"Uh huh. And Chad and Zeke and Taylor and Sharpay" I said with my mouth full of omelette. Then I checked the time on the huge clock on the wall, "crap. Troy's gonna be here any minute" I said as I shovelled the rest of the omelette into my mouth and then ran up the stairs to clean my teeth

"Such a lady" I heard dad laugh

--

"Morning babe"

"Uh huh"

"What's wrong?"

"Just kinda freaking out" I said with a small smile as I got into Troy's car

"Well don't. Its gonna be fine. Trust me" Troy smiled back. Then lent over and gave me a quick peck on the lips

"Ill try"

--

We hadn't even left Gabriella's street when I saw her begin to knot her hands in her lap again. She was stressing out way too much

"Don't stress Brie"

"Who says im stressing? Im not stressed. Back off Bolton!" she growled

I pulled the car over to the side of the road and cut the engine. Turning to her, I said, "from what I hear Brie, your somewhat of a genius. Quit freaking yourself out. Your gonna do great in all of your classes!"

"That's not what's freaking me out Troy!"

"Well then what is it?!" I could feel myself starting to get a little bit stressed as well

"It's just that, well at my last school I wasn't exactly popular. I mean, I had heaps of friends, but I wasn't in the limelight. I prefer to watch from afar… do you get what I mean?"

"I think so… you don't know how your gonna handle people watching you, and knowing all of your business?"

"Exactly! And since I 'stole' you, there's gonna be heaps of girls that hate me"

"Brie don't worry about them. Trust me. The basketball team loves you. That's all that matters. We rule the school. What we say goes. No one will hurt you"

"Geeez Troy. Egotistical much?"

I laughed and kissed her once again

"Would it make you feel better if you walked in with Taylor and Sharpay instead of me?"

"Actually, I think it would… do you mind?"

"Nah it's cool. But I _will_ walk you to some of your classes like the great boyfriend I am"

She laughed. Finally she had stopped stressing

"If you say so. After all, what you say goes" she said throwing my words back at me

--

God I wish Sharpay and Taylor would hurry up and get here! I just want to get inside so I can get the day over and done with.

"They'll be here in a minute. Your gonna break your fingers if you keep doing that" troy laughed as he pulled my hands apart

"Im sorry I just wanna get this over with"

"I know you do. But just relax. Look, here they are now"

Suddenly there was a loud bang on the window

"Geez guys! You scared the crap outta me!" I cried as I got out of the car, only to be enveloped in a hug with the two girls. Laughing I pulled away from them, "alright, can you two _please_ take me to the office so I can get my timetable and all that junk?"

"Yes yes, were going, were going" Taylor laughed as she looped my arms with hers, and Sharpay did the same on the other side

"Good to see there aren't any hoodies around" Sharpay laughed as she inspected my outfit, "later troy" she waved behind her as we walked off

I turned to see him laughing at us as we walked away

--

"Hey man. Long time no see" Chad yelled as he ran through the halls to catch up with me

"You call one day a 'long time'?" I laughed as we did our team handshake

"Yeah man. An hour is a long time for me. You seen the girls?"

"Yeah, I drove brie to school but she wouldn't quit freaking out, so she came in with Shar and Tay" I said as we stopped at my locker

"Oh sweet as. Ill catch up with Tay in homeroom then I guess. I hope Gabi's in our homeroom. It'd suck if she was left lonered in another class"

"Yeah it would" I really wanted to see her and make sure she was ok… she did look better once she saw the girls though

"Hey um… I don't suppose you remember where my locker is… I kinda forgot…" Chad grinned sheepishly

"You forgot _again_?!" zeke laughed as he walked up to us, "hey man" he directed at me

"Well… it was a long holiday… and I don't remember anything about school during the holidays! You know that"

"Yeah except for where the cafeteria is"

"Well that's cos that's important"

"Uh huh. Keep telling yourself that Chad" I laughed as I closed my locker

Suddenly the hallway was filled with whispers

_Troy's here!_

_Oh doesn't he look so cute!_

_I went to their practice a few weeks ago. He took off his shirt!_

These were the 'whispers' I was used to. And I could handle them. However, I didn't think Gabriella could handle the other ones I heard

_Yeah that's the girl who kissed Troy! I swear! _

_I heard his parents are making him date her_

_Troy told me he's gonna break up with her for me _

I turned toward the end of the hallway and saw a much happier Gabriella walking towards me. Sharpay and Taylor were still on either side of her, almost protecting her from all of the gossipers who were lining the walls, giving the three girls room to walk past freely.

I could feel my smile growing as they got closer. Everyone in the hallway seemed to turn silent, watching as she strode past. And finally she reached her destination

"How'd I do?" she whispered

"Great" I said with a chuckle as I lent down to kiss her

--

There go those guns again. Everyone in East High seemed to part like the red sea as the three of us walked through the halls to find the boys. Im not gonna lie. It felt goon. _I_ felt powerful. At my last school, you had to push and shove and occasionally even yell if you wanted to get anywhere fast. Here… you just had to walk. Maybe it was cos I was with Shar and Tay. Or maybe it was cos everyone already knew I was with Troy. Which ever one it was, I liked it.

"Chad lost his locker again" Troy said to Taylor

"Aw sweetie. Im gonna have to tattoo the number to your forehead" Taylor said as she pushed his curls off his forehead

"Please Tay. What number is it?"

"410"

"Hey! Im 409! Yay! There's someone next to me that I know! Thank god" I said as I leapt over to Chad to hug him

"Glad I could be of assistance" he laughed

"Ill take you guys over to your lockers then" Taylor offered

"That would be _great_"

**Tada!!**


	10. First Day pt 2

**hey guys. heres the next part**

**again.**** i am currently owning nothing **

My first day went pretty slowly. It wasn't even lunch time yet. So far I had endured three periods of constant whispering and gossiping, and I was just starting on my fourth… Grrr…

Apparently Troy's parents are paying him to pretend to go out with me for a few weeks so that I can feel like I have friends. And Chad and Zeke have a bet going with him that he can't sleep with me before the mid-year exams. But he's actually gonna break up with me soon so that he can go out with Tiffany, Alex, Miranda, Samantha, Andrea, Madeline, Hannah, Amy, and… that's all I can remember at the moment… and apparently im expecting twins to Chad. But no one else knows cos I confided in one person; some girl I've never even talked to before in my life.

Oh and the latest Goss on 'the gang', as they are so aptly named, is that Chads gay (I actually asked the person saying this "if Chads gay, then why am I pregnant with his twins?" that shut them up) Taylor is 'comforting' Troy and Sharpay and Zeke are engaged. At least they have a happy ending. Well except for the part where sharpays planning on running off with the Spanish teacher.

Id be lying if I said the whispers and the gossip didn't affect me at all. I mean, some of them made me laugh so hard I cried, but some of them did hurt a little bit. Did people really hate me that much? I hadn't even spoken to anyone and they already had their minds made up that I was a bitch and it at the moment it looked as though nothing I said or did would change that.

At the moment I was trying to drown out the voice of the over eccentric Ms. Darbus. The kaftan wearing, gibberish speaking Darbus was too much for me to handle right before lunch.

I had begun to stare mindlessly out the window at the courtyard outside. East High was all about school spirit. Everything around the school was red and white. Everything looked like a giant candy cane… mmm… candy cane… I wonder if Kat put any chocolate in my bag… that would be good right now… chocolate and strawberries… and ice cream…I want a swim… I might have a swim when I get home… and some nachos… I like nachos… with lots of sour cream… I want to paint my bedroom… maybe yellow… no… purple… no… green… wait. Ill paint each wall a different colour… like a rainbow… I wonder if anyone's ever got to the end of a rainbow… the little leprechaun would be funny to see… I want that pot of gold… I think im gonna chase a rainbow one day… ha-ha that tickles… wait…

I suddenly snapped my head up… I had fallen asleep and now some one was tickling my neck

"Troy! What are you doing?" I shared two classes with Troy, English and gym. Only because they don't place students in those classes according to their grades. They're just gap-fillers.

"Well you fell asleep and the bell rang so I thought you would like to be woken up"

"Ohhh" I looked down at my desk slightly embarrassed

"You did good to last that long in her class. Most people can only stand it for about five minutes"

"Oh? And why didn't you fall asleep?" I asked as I packed my back and stood up

"Cos you were so funny to watch" he laughed as he grabbed my hand and led me into the hall

"So when were you gonna tell me that you're dumping me for Tiffany, Alex, Miranda, Samantha, Andrea, Madeline, Hannah, Amy _and_ some other girls?"

"Well I thought id keep it as a surprise"

By the time we reached my locker we were both in hysterics at the rumours that were going around.

"I forgot to tell you the first rule at East High"

"Oh? What's that?"

"Don't believe _anything_ you hear"

"Ill keep that in mind"

--

"Gabi when were you planning on telling me that you were pregnant with Chads twins?" Taylor squealed

"I can't wait to be an uncle!" zeke laughed as he sat down at the lunch table with the rest of us

"Hey I know some pretty nasty stuff about you guys too ya know"

"Oh like what?" Sharpay asked with a smirk, as she bit into her sandwich

"Well firstly, your gonna leave Zeke at the altar for the Spanish teacher-"

"The old man or the lady?"

"The old man I think"

"Ew!"

"And you two" I said pointing at Chad and Zeke, "how could you make a bet with Troy that he can't sleep with me before exams? I thought we were friends" I said, faking looking hurt

"Sorry Gabs. We should have known that you had already done it" Chad laughed as he pulled at twenty dollar bill out of his wallet, "here you go man. I always knew you could do it" he said as he passed it to Troy

"Thanks bro. Your faith means everything to me" he said pretending to wipe a tear from his eye and then moving to put the money in his wallet

I grabbed it and slipped it into my pocket

"Thank you very much"

"Hey! That was my 20!"

"Why? You don't deserve it. _I_ did all the work"

"Ooooooo! So the truth comes out!" Taylor laughed as she and Sharpay leant across the table to give me a high five

"Tay, Id really appreciate it if you stopped spending so much time with Troy. I don't like all the 'comforting' that you've been doing" I said as I flicked a chip at her

"Im sorry, he's just so… spunky"

When she said this, the whole table started laughing

"So other than all the crap that's been goin round, how's your first day been?" Chad asked

"Alright I guess. I think it'll get better once I get used to the school"

"Yeah it does take some getting used to" Taylor laughed as she looked around at the chaos they called their school

--

Finally the day had ended. Troy dropped my off home again and after saying goodbye, I walked straight up to my room, flopped down face first on the bed and screamed into one of my many pillows.

"God that felt good. I've been wanting to do that all day" I mumbled. Surprisingly, the scream had made me feel heaps better. It was like I was releasing all of the stress the day had brought on

"Hey Ella. How was your first day at school?"

"Hey Kat. It was alright I guess"

"Stressful?"

"Yup"

Kat laughed, "You know I was an exchange student as well"

"Oh? Where'd you exchange from?"

"A poncy rich school in New York City to East High"

"You went to East High?"

"Yeah just for senior year. Like you. My parents suddenly decided they didn't like the fast paced life of New York City so they…"

"Moved to Albuquerque?" I laughed

"Exactly. I felt as though my life was turned up side down. And then I had my first day at East High. Not so good. If you're a new student at that school, then you're in for a hell of a first few weeks"

"Gee thanks"

"At least you have Troy and the others. The Troy Bolton of East High during my time was Damon Martin. He was so cute! He had green eyes and black hair. You could spot him from a mile off. One of the major problems with him was that he was also the world's biggest asshole. The only reason he was popular was cos he was the captain of the football team, and cos people were too scared to stand up to him. Apparently I was the first person"

"Really? What'd you do?" knowing Kat it would have been something like a huge fight in the middle of the hallway

"Well on my second day I was walking to my locker and there he was. Leaning up against it with some blonde bimbo practically going at it right on my locker"

"And then you whipped out you karate skills and beat the crap outta him?!" I laughed as I imitated some karate moves

"Close… actually I asked him to move a couple of times, but he kept ignoring me, so I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him backwards and pushed him up against another locker and pretty much told him that I didn't take any crap and that he owed me and everyone else an apology for making us watch him and that girl hump like rabbits on my locker"

"You actually used the term 'hump like rabbits'?!"

"Yup"

"So what happened after that?"

"He apologised to me and everyone else and then we didn't see him for a few more days. And when he did come back he gave me a huge bunch of flowers to prove he was really sorry. He was my first proper boyfriend"

"Wow that's some story. Not being rude, but was there a point?"

"Yeah there was. Don't take any crap from anyone. Especially Natalie Connors"

When I looked at her questioningly she simply said

"I hear things"

"Oh? And where do you hear these things?"

"Work"

Kat was the manager of a 'beauty store'. I don't actually know what the official name of it was, I but pretty much it was a hairdresser, nail studio, tanning beds and even had massage therapists. I guess she would hear things. Especially from spoilt little brats like Natalie Connors.

"Just don't let her push you around. And trust me; people will respect you if you stand up to her"

"Ok ill remember that for the next fight we have"


	11. Food Fight

**second to last chapter for today**

I had somehow managed to survive the week. It had become a ritual for us three girls to walk in together and then meet the boys at one of our lockers. Neither Troy nor I felt the need to rub our relationship in anyone's face, so we kept it on the 'down low' as Chad had said. I was fitting into the school more and more each day. I had even started to stay awake during _most_ of Ms. Darbus' classes. It was a big improvement for one week.

And I even made some new friends. One thing that helped, was the basketball team 'accidentally' telling most of the student body how cool I was and that I even stood up to Natalie. For some reason she hadn't been at school all week, but the word on the street was that she was back. And she was pissed.

It was finally lunchtime on Friday. I had just endured a very painful lesson of biology with Sharpay. I was pretty much learning everything the teacher told us, and then re-teaching it to Sharpay in, well, 'Sharpay language'. It wasn't really her strongest subject. We had some good laughs though… and then got in trouble for them…

'The gang', which I was now officially part of, was sitting at their usual table when we heard;

"Oh Trooooy! Im baaaack!"

I could almost hear the entire cafeteria groan

"Did she really have to come back to school? Senior year was goin so great until now" troy grumbled

"Don't worry. Gabi's here now. She'll scare her away" laughed zeke

"Troy sweetie, have you missed me?" Natalie asked as she placed a hand on Troy's shoulder

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" I warned, Continuing eating my lunch, not even looking at her

"Oh its you"

"Yeah it's me. And im still troy's girlfriend" this time I turned to look at her. I could feel every pair of eyes in the cafeteria staring at the two of us

"Look Natalie. Im never gonna go out with you. So just leave" Troy said as he pulled her hand off his shoulder and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I think he was actually trying to hold me down so I wouldn't do anything stupid. He had been on the other end of my bad temper once or twice. He knew what Natalie was in for.

Completely ignoring Troy, she turned to look at me, "you know that day at the mall, I was just giving you a chance to come to your senses. Troy _is_ mine"

--

"_Hello?_ Im right here. I _can _hear you. And I'm not yours"

"What are you on about Troysie?" she said as she turned to me with a smile, "you said you were mine that time we went on a date"

"One date! Two years ago! You were a guaranteed lay! That's all. And to be honest, you sucked"

The whole cafeteria gasped. Everyone knew (pre-Gabriella) that I only dated girls for one thing. Even though I never said it out loud, it was a known fact. Telling Natalie to her face that she was only ever one thing to me was the ultimate burn for her. She had thought she was special to me. And that wasn't my fault. I had told her so many times that she didn't mean anything to me. I hoped this time she would finally get it

"Baby you don't mean that" she said pouting as she tried to move closer

Obviously not

"Yeah I do. You were just sex. Very bad sex"

"I think you should leave now, with the little dignity you still have" Gabriella said as she stood up to stand between me and Natalie. I took this as my chance to turn and look at the others. They were just sitting there with their mouths hanging open.

"You are _really_ starting to get on my nerves" Natalie said as she took a step closer to Gabriella

I could sense a cat-fight starting. And I knew Gabriella was almost past the point of controlling her temper. If Natalie didn't leave soon, she would have to be carried away.

"You really have to get over the fact that Troy doesn't want you. This isn't Punk'd. This is real life"

"If you're not careful im gonna…"

"You're gonna what? Beat me up? Id like to see you try" Gabriella laughed

I stood up, staying slightly behind Gabriella, and rested my hands on her shoulders trying to calm her down. I heard the sound of chairs scraping the floor, and pretty soon the rest of the basketball team, and some other students were standing behind Gabriella and me.

"Oh isn't this just sweet! Little Gabriella thinks she rules the school" I could tell that Gabriella was concentrating so hard on controlling her temper that she hadn't noticed the extra support she had gained

"Ill say this one more time. I suggest you leave"

"Come on! You can't seriously think im gonna leave just cos you told me to"

Suddenly, a big bowl of spaghetti landed on Natalie's head. I don't know who threw it, but thank god they did. She stood there, gobsmacked and then let out a screech before running out of the room. Suddenly the room erupted in laughter and cheers. People were hugging Gabriella and telling her she was wonderful. I had a feeling her senior year at East High was gonna be great.

Once the crowd had separated and everyone had gone back to their own seats, Gabriella sat down

"Well that was interesting" Zeke offered

"Heaps better than at the mall" Taylor laughed

"Girl you are awesome" Sharpay added

"So I guess that makes you _my_ knight in shinning armour?" I whispered in her ear

--

"I guess it does"

Troy kissed my cheek and then sat back up to continue eating his food

"So you used her for sex then?"

"Yeah I guess"

"Then this is for her" I whispered as I tipped my bowl of chocolate pudding on his head. His shoulders drew up as he the pudding began to drip down his neck.

"It is so on" he said before he flicked his spaghetti at me. Ducking I managed to miss it, but it did end up on Chad

"What was that for?!"

Troy couldn't respond cos he was laughing too hard. Chad took the spaghetti off his face and threw it back at troy, this time getting some on me. Laughing I threw it at Sharpay who screamed at the slimy pasta hitting her face. Then the pudding I tipped on Troy, hit Taylor who threw it at Zeke.

"FOOD FIGHT!" some one yelled and suddenly the whole room was filled with flying food

--

The principal decided that the seniors (we were the only ones with lunch at that time) should go home. After all, the food had begun to smell really badly. No one told any of the teachers who had thrown the food first, so no one could be punished. I was quite proud. One week and I already started a food fight.

Troy dropped me home once again leaving me to have an extra long shower and begin my homework.

"You're home early" Kat said as I walked through the door. Once she turned around I heard her gasp. "What happened?!"

"Uh… long story?"

"Yeah, and you have time to tell it. Your dads gonna be home late" she laughed as she began picking the pasta out of my hair.

"Well I did what you said…"

"When did I tell you to get in a food fight?" she laughed once again

"I stood up to Natalie…"

"Oh? And how did the food fight start?"

Once I retold the story, she could only laugh

"Well that's an original approach"

"Yeah I thought so" I said as I laughed along with her

"Well you better go and have your shower now. You're starting to smell" she said as she went back to her cooking


	12. Bras

**funny one for tonight**

Sharpay, Taylor and I walked into Troy's backyard to find the boys playing basketball

It was finally Saturday. Sharpay, Taylor and I walked into Troy's backyard to find the boys playing basketball. Big surprise. Only this time something was different…

"Is it just me or do the guys have –"

"Boobs?!" Taylor finished

"Uh…yeah. They do…" I never thought id be admitting _that_

The guys must have noticed us staring with our mouths open. Or what I like to call, 'Gob smacked'. They waved and began –

"Are they running in…slow motion?" Taylor asked

"Yeah they are…" I said

"What the hell?!" Sharpay cried sounding completely astounded

"Hello ladies" Chad said sounding rather proud of himself **(a/n: for Amy, imagine beau…)**

Sharpay pounced on Zeke lifting up his shirt to reveal a red lacy bra.

"Why are you wearing a bra?! Where'd you get it from?! WHO ARE YOU SLEEPING WITH?!"

"Relax babe. Troy got them for us" Zeke said pointing to Troy

"What?!" Troy asked shrugging his shoulders

"They're _your_ bras?" Sharpay asked

"Well they aren't _mine_. They're those ones that were in my room…?"

"Bras in your room?" asked Taylor

"You don't wanna know" I said to Taylor

"Do you guys wanna maybe explain _why_ you're wearing bras" asked Taylor

"Oh yeah! Well we were talking about how you guys are always complaining about having breasts so we decided to try it out… So I went and got some bras, we filled up some water balloons and voila! Boobs!"

"Right…you guys are weird. You know that right?" questioned Sharpay

"Yeah but you know you love it!"

"No Chad. We don't"

"Ouch! That's harsh Shar"

"So guys, uh why were you running in slow motion?"

"Oh. Um we were playing Baywatch…" blushed Zeke

"I don't even wanna go there"

Chad grabbed Taylor and pulled her into a hug, bursting the balloons on Taylor's chest causing her to let out a shriek

"Chad! You are so dead!" she cried as she chased Chad around Troy's backyard.

"Hey brie…" Troy said with a cheeky grin on his face and his arms open wide for a hug

"Oh no you don't Troy… you stay away from me with those _things_" I laughed as I backed away from him

"Don't you even think about it Zeke!" Sharpay screamed

"Ok babe" Zeke said sounding slightly deflated

Suddenly Sharpay was pelted with water balloons

"Chad!"

"Hey! It wasn't me!" Chad looked as though he was about to cry the moment Sharpay screamed at him

"It was Taylor! I swear!"

"McKessie! Your gonna get it!"

"It wasn't me!"

I laughed as Taylor and Sharpay ran around throwing the extra water balloons at each other, while Chad and Zeke watched in awe. I heard one of them say, "Damn that's hot!"

Suddenly I felt a body behind me

"Troy you'd better not have those balloons in your hand" I warned

"Don't worry, who do ya think got Sharpay?"

"You're so bad Troy!"

--

_Don't I know it!_ I thought slyly as Gabriella turned to face me and give me a hug. As she wrapped her arms around my waist and lent up for a kiss, I revealed the hose that was hidden behind my back and directed it down on her head. She let out a scream and ran away from me.

"Awww Brie your no fun!" I yelled as I chased her

Pretty soon the six of us were in a full on water fight. The girls were soaked from head to toe. The boys… not so much. While I was trying to get Sharpay with the hose, I felt a body hit me from behind and I landed face first on the ground with an 'oomph'. There were a few moments of wrestling before Gabriella yelled out to Taylor and Sharpay to help her get the hose. Very soon, I had all three of them trying to pin down my limbs so they could steal the hose.

"Aha!" Gabriella yelled with a triumphant grin, "Now your gonna get it Bolton! Hold him down girls" pretty soon I was soaked and helping the girls get their revenge on Zeke and Chad.

"Come on guys! This isn't fair! Four on two!" Chad cried. The four of us had the two cornered.

"Take him! I'm too young to die!" cried Zeke as he shoved Chad towards us, to be met with _lots _of water balloons. But Zeke's plan didn't work. He too got pummeled with water balloons.

--

"I haven't had that much fun for years" Gabriella said as she came out of my bathroom, towel drying her hair. She was wearing a pair of my pyjama pants and one of my wildcat t-shirts. They were way too big for her, but my god did she look good!

"And here I thought you were mad at me" I said with a grin as she sat next to me on my bed.

I had already changed and had been waiting for Gabriella to get out of her never-ending shower.

"Aw I could never be mad at you" she said kissing my forehead, "ok, I could, but not for that" she laughed

Sitting next to me on the bed, I wrapped my arms around her and pressed play on the remote

Half and hour in to the movie, Gabriella had turned and snuggled her body into my arms and was now fast asleep.

Moving carefully, so that I didn't wake her, I got off the bed and began moving her body so that she was underneath the blankets.

Having succeeded in my goal, I got under the blankets as well and resumed our positions

"Night Brie" I whispered as I snuggled closer to her, drifting off into a deep sleep.


	13. The Talk

**hey guys im sorry this chapter is really short, but im at school, and im supposed to be doing my work lol i will try and update some more over the weekend... please dont hate me! lol gasp i officially have a plan for the story!! ive gotta write it now... lol anyhu i will talk to u all later**

"Gabriella, can you come downstairs please?"

Groaning, I got off my bed and bounded down the stairs

"In here sweetie" my dad called from his office

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Troy"

I fought the urge to groan again. I'm no good with lectures. They always end in fights. I hate being told what to do.

"What about him?"

"Well just about the amount of time you've been spending with him… and how you've been staying the night at each others houses…"

"I did ask if you were alright with it… and you said it was ok, so technically I'm not doing anything wrong"

"Yes. No. I mean, I know that… I'm just aware of Troy's… how do I put this? Sexual history?"

"Ew! Dad! Please don't!"

"I just want to make sure your being… safe. I know that I can't stop you from doing anything, but please tell me that you're at least using protection"

"Ew! Dad! Stop it! How do you even know that Troy and I are having sex?"

"Well I just assumed… I mean, I hear all the girls at the club talking about how cute he is, and you're spending a lot of time with him, and he is your boyfriend now"

"But dad… just… ugh! EW! Regardless of whether we are or aren't, please don't talk about that! You're my dad for crying out loud!"

Laughing he held up his hands in defeat, "ok ok, ill stop. Just please tell me that you are being safe"

"Yeah we are" oh crap! I hadn't meant to tell him that. Now he knows! I could feel a bright red blush begin to creep up my cheeks

"Good to know" he laughed before he turned to look at his computer screen once again

Oh god oh god oh god. I stood in the hallway, and looked towards the heavens

_Why me?! I thought we had a deal?_

--

"And then he asked if you and Troy were being safe? Omg this is classic!"

"It's really not that funny Shar. It's horrifying! I mean, I don't even think I can look at him anymore without being embarrassed!"

"You really shouldn't worry about that. At least you haven't had your parents walk in on you while you were in the middle of it" Taylor tried to console me

"Yeah. Chad's parents walked in on him and his ex, mid shag!" Sharpay was nearly crying with laughter at the current conversation

"Oh wow. I don't feel so bad now! Wait, Chad had a girlfriend before you?"

"Yeah I know. Surprising isn't it? I didn't think anyone could handle Chad other than Taylor here. Well I guess in the end she couldn't. That's why they split"

The moment I had escaped from dads 'talk' I called the girls and we were now doing what girls do best. Gossiping over coffee at the local mall. My only therapy for the time being.

"I really can't imagine Chad with anyone other than you. I mean you guys seem perfect for each other"

"We have our moments" Taylor laughed

"Back to the topic at hand! You have to help me! How am I gonna look at Troy without the 'conversation' replaying in my head? It's so embarrassing. Oh god! What happens when he wants to come over?! My dad knows! Ugh! Every time I'm alone with Troy my dads gonna be thinking 'yup. They're having sex right now'. OH GOD! He's gonna be thinking about _me and Troy. Having sex!_"

"Woah Gabi! Quiet. People are starting to stare. And your gonna start hyperventilating if your not careful!"

"Shars right gabs. Just relax. Your dad won't be thinking about you and Troy having sex. Trust me. It's the last thing he will want to be thinking of. And as for seeing Troy without having _the_ conversation playing in your head, maybe just have a day or two where you don't see him. I mean, you have spent almost everyday together since you met each other. I'm sure you can go one day"

Suddenly, my phone started ringing in my handbag

"Oooo I wonder who it is?" teased Sharpay

Taylor snatched my phone off me, "oh big surprise! Its lover boy"

"You know, he's had these mushy lovey dovey eyes since you guys hooked up… are you drugging him?" Sharpay laughed once again

I grabbed my phone back before poking tongues at Sharpay

"Hello"

"_Hey, we were wondering if you ladies wanted to hang out this afternoon"_

"Uh…I have some homework and stuff to do, but I'm sure these two would love to"

"good cover" Sharpay rolled her eyes at me, and I once again poked my tongue at her

"_Ok, well those four can hang out and ill come and help with your 'homework'"_

I could hear it in his voice. He wanted to fool around. And after my talk with dad, uh, NO! That was not happening. So I took the girls advice;

"Uh… I don't think that's a good idea…"

"_Why not?"_ he laughed thinking I was joking

"Uh, I've just got lots of homework and I really need to concentrate on it… um ill see you tomorrow…bye"

Then I hung up, feeling really bad about not telling him why I didn't want him at my house

"Oooo that was tense"

"Shut up. He wanted to come over and-"

"Have sex"

"Yes Sharpay. But the guys wanna hang out with you two. You should probably call them"

--

Me, Chad and Zeke were hanging out at Chads house playing video games, when we decided to ask the girls if they wanted to hang out.

"_Uh, I've just got lots of stuff to do… um ill see you tomorrow…bye"_

Suddenly, I was left listening to an annoying beep on the other end

"Oooo! You made her maaaaad!" Chad laughed

"I didn't do anything!" I said dumbfounded, staring at my phone

"Well you must have done something. Or else she wouldn't have ditched you like that "

"I didn't do anything! I swear!"

"Sure. Well im gonna call Sharpay. You guys feel like goin to a movie?"

"Yeah man. Tell Shar to tell Taylor that ill pick her up at what ever time Sharpay tells you to pick her up"

"Im not your messenger. Tell her yourself"

"But your calling Sharpay who will be sitting right between Taylor and gabrie – oh sorry dude"

I laughed "its all good bro. we didn't break up or anything. I just made her mad. Some how… and now I have to figure out how…"

"So you're not coming then?" Zeke asked as he began dialling Sharpays number

"Nah. Buy ask Shar what I did to Brie to piss her off"

"Yes sir" he said saluting me and then leaving the room

"How do you get him to do stuff for me? He wont even get me a drink when hes getting himself one!"

"Im special" I said with a smirk

"Pffft. Whatever. At least I didn't piss my girlfriend off"

"Ok you got me there"

"Maybe Gabi was just making you think that you were in the crap, but secretly she wants you to go and see what's wrong with her. You know, be romantic and shit. Isn't that what girls do?"

"Hmmm. Maybe" I thought about it. It did make sense. She didn't seem mad. Just distant. Maybe I would surprise her… but did I really want to listen to Chad on this…

Zeke walked back into the room, stopped, took a huge breath and then…

"Shar says you should know what you did wrong, but she also said that you're in the crap cos you're an obnoxious man-whore and also that Gabriella never wants to see you again"

"WHAT?!"

"But Taylor was laughing in the background and I could hear Gabriella yelling at Sharpay so I'm thinking she was just trying to freak you out"

"I'm thinking you do the romantic approach. Just to be sure…"

"Im with Chad on this man" zeke said as he sat down and picked up a controller

What to do, what to do…

**laters guys**

**oh yea i forgot... i dont own anything**

**tata!!**


	14. Awkwardness

Geez Dad

**Hey guys. Soooo… I officially have an ending, which is mostly written… and I have ideas for the rest of it, I just have to write it.**

**Yay! People like my story! Lol**

**This chapter dedicated to Larissa lol**

**I don't own the hsm franchise :( **

**Oh yea I forgot,**

**Halfway through writing this chapter, I realized some of it is similar to someone else's story. I can't remember whose, but if it's yours I'm sorry. I didn't do it on purpose I swear! I tried to make it as different as I could, but please don't get angry!**

Geez Dad. Great timing. My life was going great right up until our little talk. I was popular, I had a great group of friends, and I had the perfect boyfriend. Now I couldn't even talk to him without freaking out about what my Dad would think.

I was currently starfished on my bed, staring at the ceiling. A habit that revealed itself whenever I needed to think. It seemed to be happening an awful lot lately.

Suddenly my phone rang. Looking at the screen, I saw it was Troy. Again. 7 calls in the past hour and a half. I really should talk to him soon, I thought as I put my phone beside me on the bed.

It was getting late. My room was getting dark. Dad and Kat were out, and the rest of the house seemed eerily quiet… Except for a slight thumping coming from down stairs…

Sitting up slightly, I listened carefully to the noise… there was someone in the house…

"Oh crap!" I muttered as I began searching my room for a weapon. The first thing I found was one of my Dads old baseball bats. Good enough.

As I quietly snuck over to my bedroom door, I could hear footsteps creeping up the stairs… I hid behind the door, praying the intruder wouldn't venture into my room…

Once again, my prayers were rejected. Pretty soon, the intruders' footsteps were outside my bedroom door.

Swallowing hard, I tried to control my breathing, so the intruder wouldn't hear me. As the door knob turned, I raised the bat above my head, getting ready to whack the person who was about to enter

"Brie…?" I heard someone whisper as the door opened

"Troy?" I asked as I stepped into the doorway, lowering the bat

"Why do you have a bat?"

As I looked down at the bat in my hand, I realized how stupid it was for me to try and attack a strange person entering my room.

"Wait…were you gonna hit me with that? Look, im sorry about whatever I did, but surely it wasn't bad enough to attack me with a bat!" he said with a frightened look on his face…

"Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?"

"Well Chad said-"

"Ok. Stop right there. Please never start a sentence with 'Chad said'. It's wrong"

"You're right. That is so wrong. When did I start listening to Chad?" he chuckled slightly, "but on the phone… you seemed angry about something…"

"Im not angry!" I said laughing as I dropped the bat and gave him a hug

As I wrapped my arms around his back, I felt something prick my arm

"Ow!" I yelped as I stepped backwards, "what was that?"

Troy blushed, "well since I thought you were mad at me, so I got you these to apologize" he said as he pulled a dozen red roses out from behind his back

I laughed before taking the roses from him and placing them on my bed. Then I remembered Dad.

"Um, you should go Troy"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Um… nothings wrong… but Dad and Kat will be back soon… you should go…"

"You know they don't care if im here"

"Yeah but… just go troy," I said as I began trying to push him out my now closed door

"Brie, tell me what's wrong"

"You just have to go"

"Ella! Were home!"

"Oh shit! Go troy!"

"No. I wanna stay"

Suddenly my door opened and there was my Dad. Staring at us with that, 'I know what you were doing' look on his face

"Oh, hi troy. We brought Chinese home for dinner if you would like to stay troy"

"I'd love to" he said grinning at me

"Wonderful. Ill call you when it's served up" he said as he left the room

"See. Your parents love me. Why'd you try and make me leave?"

"I can't tell you"

"Why not?"

"Its embarrassing"

"I bet its not"

"It is"

"Not"

"Is"

"Not"

"Shut up troy!"

"Tell me what's wrong"

"Fine!" I said as I sat cross-legged on my bed, playing with the flowers, "dad knows"

"Knows what?"

"That you and me are… you know…"

"I'm sorry, I don't know"

Gah! Stupid boys!

"That you and me are… sexually active…" I whispered the last part

"Is that is?" he laughed

"What do you mean, 'is that it'?"

"That's not embarrassing"

"It is so!"

"Babe," he said as he pulled me into a hug, "you know Chads parents walked in on him and his ex right?"

"Yeah I know, but this is still embarrassing"

"Ok, fine, it's slightly embarrassing"

I gave him a stern, 'agree with me or else' look. And it worked.

"Ok, ok, its embarrassing. But all we have to do is stop staying the night at each others house for a bit"

"He wont forget about it"

"Maybe not entirely, but it will slowly disappear into the back of his mind"

"Uh huh. Sure"

"Well that's the only thing we can so," he laughed as he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead

"I guess we gotta find some more inventive places to do it then" he mumbled

I laughed before pulling away

"At the rate you're going, there will be no sex. Ever."

"I take it back!" he said with a horrified look on his face

"Good boy" I laughed

"Ella! Troy! Dinners ready!"

--

"Why was there so much food?!"

"Just cos there was lots, didn't mean you had to eat it all" I laughed as troy plopped face down onto my bed

"But it was calling to me" he mumbled as her rolled over and pulled me down to sit next to him

"So did you like my romantic gesture?"

I glanced over at the roses that were now sitting on my desk, "it was alright. You could have climbed up to my window though"

"3 stories up? I don't fecking think so" he laughed

"i'm joking. The roses are beautiful."


	15. Justin

**hey guys,**

**so last night, i spent so long trying to get over my writers block. and i did. yay me! lol**

**im really sorry but im going to brisbane (in australia) on saturday, so i wont be able to update for about a week. but i promise ill update as soon as i can!**

"We never hang out anymore"

"Yeah we do shar. Like everyday"

"I mean just us girls tay"

"You're right. Whenever we hangout, the guys are always with us" I added

Sharpay and Taylor had come over for a mid morning swin while the guys were at their Saturday training.

"Lets do girly stuff today!" sharpay squealed

"Shopping and movies? Im in!" Taylor exclaimed

Then they turned to me…

"Im sure you can deal without Troy for one day" Taylor said as she raised an eyebrow

"Sure why not" I laughed as I dove into the pool

--

It was now nearly three o'clock and the three of us had spent hours buying clothes, shoes and jewelery. Some of which I was sure id never wear again but that didn't matter to the other two. One rule with them, if you like it, buy it.

Laden down with a billion bags (not literaly, cos that would be stupid) we finally sat down at Starbucks.

"Argh! My feet hurt!" I exclaimed as I sat down and began massaging my sore feet

"Wimp" Sharpay said as she took a sip of her coffee

"Hey! Just cos were not veteran shoppers!"

"Um guys… look over there" Taylor said as she nodded her head in the direction of something behind me

"What is it?" I asked as I turned to look behind me

Standing at the counter was Justin, Goose and Alistair. As they got their drinks and began walking towards a table in the corner, Justin's eyes connected with mine.

"Shit" I muttered as I turned away

"Well well well… if it isn't the famous Gabriella Montez. It's good to finally meet you"

"Piss off Justin"

"And you're still as feisty as ever Sharpay"

"You better go before the guys come back" Sharpay warned, glaring at him

Justin pulled a seat from the next table and sat down between me and Taylor

"The 'guys' aren't coming back. You girls have been here all day by yourselves, and I know for a fact that the rest of your little group are at basketball training for the rest of the day. So I figure, we have a couple more hours to enjoy each others company"

"How do you know they aren't coming back?" Taylor asked looking slightly scared

"I heard you say it just before. You know girls; you really do have big mouths"

"Yeah? And you're an ass-"Taylor started

"Now now ladies, we don't want to start an argument do we?" warned Justin as he waved the other two over to sit between each of the girls

"Alistair, Goose, this is Gabriella Montez"

"You hotter than the rumours say. You should ditch Bolton and come and hang out with us" Alistair said as he lent forward on the table

Just because East High and West High were rivals, didn't mean that they didn't hear things about their opposing school. In fact, just last week, I had learnt that Goose was the quiet one. He barely talked. But on the court, he was a machine. Virtually unstoppable. _Except_ when he came into contact with Zeke. I had also heard all about Alistair. He was the 'pretty boy' of West High. A real sweet heart. He knew how to get a girl into his bed. Flattery was his best tool. Too bad his girlfriend, Becky, was completely oblivious to it.

"Don't you have a girlfriend Alistair?"

"So?"

"You really shouldn't try to pick up other girls when you have a girlfriend. Its not very nice," another thing I had heard about Alistair, was that Becky's father held Alistairs future in his hands. If Justin pissed off Becky, he could kiss his potential career as a professional basketball player goodbye, "Maybe I should call her and tell her about our little encounter. I don't think she would be too happy about it"

Alistair went white, before he attempted to compose himself

"And how are you gonna get her number?"

"It's called a phone book dumbass"

Alistair once again went white, and then lent back in his seat and remained very quiet

"Gabriella, that wasn't very nice, Alistair was just trying to be friendly. And he does have a point, you are far prettier then your reputation makes you out to be" Justin said as he pushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear.

I tried to keep my cool, and stay still when he touched me. I didn't want him to know that he was getting to me. In reality however, I wanted to tackle him to the ground and punch him in the mouth, to get rid of his annoying smirk.

"Why don't you and I spend a little alone time together Gabriella?" he said as he looked at me

"I don't really want to"

"And you really think I care?"

"I think you should"

"And just what are you gonna do to me?" I said as I crossed my arms and lent forward on the table looking at him, daring him to threaten me

"Those thoughts are for me to know and – "

"Me to find out? You know that's a pretty empty threat. You have nothing to do to me. Im stronger than you think. Both mentally _and_ physically. Besides, this is a pretty public place. You couldn't hurt me, even if you wanted to" I said as I gestured around us to the busy mall

Justin lent in to whisper in my ear so the others couldn't hear, "trust me babe. I don't wanna hurt you. The ideas I have could be very _pleasurable_ for both of us"

I laughed quietly, before turning to him, "See, I really don't think it would be"

I looked at Sharpay and Taylor who had been quiet, watching me take on the one person who scared them. Anyone else would have been close to dead by now, but not Justin.

"Ill prove it to you then"

With that, Justin stood, grabbing my arm and pulling me up with him

"What are you doing?!" cried Sharpay

"Me and gabby here, are gonna have some fun"

"Let me go you dickhead!" I screamed

He lent in once again and said in my ear, "Look around you. Scream as loud as you want. No ones gonna help you"

As I looked around, I saw what he meant. The as far as I could see, there were only Knights. I couldn't see one Wildcat, other then Shar and Tay, who could help me…

Fuck.

--

"Please coach? Can we finish early? It's Saturday"

"No Troy"

"Just this once Coach. We promise" whined Chad

"Chad, you ask this every time we have Saturday training"

"That's cos it's on _Saturday_" I heard Jason mumble

"Fine! Three laps of the track and then you can go. But I wanna see you sweat!"

Suddenly Coach was bombarded with 'thank you's and 'hallelujahs'

Three laps and a shower each later, the team was standing at the base of the bleachers inside the gym, debating whose turn it was to have a party

"No way man! My parents killed me after the last one! Im still on 'probation'!" Jason cried the minute his name was mentioned

"We'll help clean up this time! We swear!"

"Zeke, I know how this works. You promise you will help, but then you're either too drunk or too hung over to help. You just did it with the Coach! Aren't sharpays parents away this weekend? Her place is perfect for a party"

"True. Ill ask her" zeke said as he pulled his phone from his bag

I was sitting on the bleachers in the middle of the group. I used to be the one wanting the parties, and organising them. But now, to be honest, id much rather just hang out with Brie and watch some movies. The parties didn't really interest me that much. Not unless there was a real reason for them

"Oh shit!" I heard zeke yell as he looked down at his phone

"What's up? Cant Sharpay see you tonight?" laughed someone on the team

"Shar sent me a text, the girls are in trouble"

I snapped my head up to look at him

"What do you mean trouble? What happened?!" I exclaimed as I grabbed the phone off zeke

_Jstns gt gbi we at strbks HELP_

Thank god Sharpay can text without looking at the screen

--

"Where the hell are you taking me?" I asked as Justin led me through the crowded mall

"Calm down Gabriella! I just wanna talk to you"

"Yeah right. You better watch out when troy gets here"

"Troy aint gonna find us"

"Oh yeah? You wanna bet on that?"

He suddenly stopped and turned to look at me before smiling

"20 bucks says he can't find you before I finish with you"

"You're on" I said as we shook hands, before he grabbed my arm once again and began walking off

--

The entire East High basketball team was speeding towards the mall to help the girls.

They were not only girlfriends to me, Chad and Zeke, but they were also like little sisters to the rest of the team. So naturally, all of us were gonna beat the shit out of anyone who messed with them.

"Where did Sharpay say they were?" Chad asked as he sped around the corner, narrowly missing a parked car

"At Starbucks! I know you wanna get there as quickly as possible Chad, but do think you could try and keep us alive? We can't help them if we're dead!" Jason cried from the back seat

"Im with Jase on this one Chad!" Matthew, another guy from our team, said as we missed yet another car by a few inches

Finally we were parked in the car park and running into the mall

I don't know if you've ever seen a group of angry teenage guys, wearing matching red and white hoodies running through a mall, but I imagine it would be quite scary. As we ran, the crowds seemed to divide into two, letting us sprint past with no obstacles.

As we ran into Starbucks we saw Sharpay and Taylor sitting at a table in the middle of the room, surrounded by the West High Knight's team.

Gabriella was right. Ever since she arrived here, our lives seemed to be taken right out of a book.

Im not sure who ran first, but pretty soon, the Knights were over powered. Some were unconscious, one guy was face first on the floor with 'some one' sitting on them cough Chad cough and others had actually run away.

Not only could we kick their arses at basketball, but we could also quite literally kick their arses.

I looked around, saw that everything was under control, and then ran to look for Gabriella

--

"You pretty much kidnapped me, purely to piss Troy off? You're an idiot"

Justin had taken me out the back entrance of the mall which apparently 'no one uses' and we were sitting in the middle of a random patch of grass that divided the car parks.

"Nah im not. I know stuff about Troy that even his parents don't. If he thinks that it's this easy for me to get you, he's gonna get a real protective streak and he won't be able to concentrate during our game next week"

"Wow. Even you don't think you can win a game against the Wildcats unless you cheat" I said as I shook my head.

He really was stupid. In order for his plan to work, Troy had to find me. And in effect, loose a bet that he made and then would owe me 20. I've been kidnapped by an idiot!

"It's called insurance"

"You're gonna need life insurance when Troy gets his hands on you"

"Ha-ha. You have a real smart mouth, you know that?"

"Thank you" I said as I turned to look at the doors that led into the mall

I could try and run, but I knew for a fact that Justin was a sprinter

I could fight… but unless I caught him off guard, I wouldn't stand a chance. And I had a feeling he was expecting me to make a move

So I decided to sit and wait. Let him think his plan was good. At least for a little while.

--

I had looked everywhere, and I couldn't find them

I stopped, suddenly out of breath from running so much. I half crouched, resting my hands on my knees as I bent over, trying to catch my breath. I lifted my head to look around at my current surroundings

To my right, I had an ice cream bar, in front of me, was a never-ending line of stores, which was mirrored behind me. I did a double take as I looked to my left. Of course. How could I have been so stupid? Justin was trying to get me worked up. I knew that. So of course he wasn't gonna go somewhere with lots of spectators.

I felt like groaning as I stood up and began heading out the rear entrance of the mall

--

"And here's prince charming now"

I turned to look behind me and I saw Troy striding towards us. He had a look in his eyes that told me he wasn't gonna let Justin get away with anything. I stood up and began walking towards Troy

"Uh uh. You aren't going anywhere" Justin said as he grabbed hold of my arm once again

"Get your hands off her Arnold" Troy growled as he neared us

"Hey now Troy. Gabi and I were just starting to have a good conversation before we were so rudely interrupted, weren't we Gabi?"

I just gritted my jaw and kept quiet

"Let her go!" Troy yelled as he stepped onto the grassy patch

"You know, we always had the same taste in girls. Remember that one back in junior high? Well, Gabriella's much prettier than her" he said as he ran a finger down my cheek, before letting me go

"If you've hurt her, I swear to god-"Troy said as he pulled me to him

"Relax Bolton. We just talked. I must say though, she is a good kisser"

Suddenly Troy was stalking towards Justin

"What did you say?" Troy growled as he stepped right up to Justin

"I said-"Justin cleared his throat,"- that she is a good kisser"

"You are so dead"

"Troy stop it! He's not worth it!" I cried as I got in between the two boys and tried to push Troy away

"You're right Brie. He's _not_ worth it. He's just a little piece of-"

"Troy lets go"

"Yeah Troy. You should go" Justin laughed, "Laters sweet lips" he aimed at me

I turned to look at him and gave him a small smile before I punched him square in the nose

As he covered his nose with his hands, I brought my knee up to his groin.

He groaned and fell to the ground, moving his hands to protect his new injury.

I squatted down next to him and lent in close and said

"You owe me 20" before I patted him on the cheek and walked away

**yuck. this chapters so not very good. oh well**

**laters guys!**

**greasegurl**


	16. Malcolm

**Hey guys!**

**So what happens when you spend 7 hours (in total) on a plane next to your 10 year old sister? You go mental thinking about all the possibilities for your story.**

**Now what happens when you go mental thinking about all the possibilities for your story, BUT you don't have a pen or paper?! That's when you need to be admitted into an institute!**

**I spent an hour this morning trying to write down all of the ideas I had for my story! I've probably forgotten half of them, but I should have a couple of chapters posted soon.**

**This chapter**** is dedicated to camp.rock.rocks, whose friends think that New Zealand is still living in the dark ages lol **

**Enjoy!**

It had been 2 weeks since the 'incident' with Justin. Unfortunately, as stupid as Justin's plan was, it had worked. Troy was acting like my own personal bodyguard. There was always someone from the team waiting for me outside each of my classes to walk me to the next one. And if I was _really _lucky, I got two or three guys waiting for me! At the end of the day, someone walked me to Troy's car and waited for me to safely be in the car before they would leave. If Troy had practise, I had to wait in the gym for him to finish. I'm pretty sure the queen of England had less security and more freedom than I did. I even had someone walking me to the _bathroom!!_

The other part of Justin's stupid plan had worked as well. Troy was so focussed on keeping me 'safe' that his game was slipping. He was too distracted and his head was most definitely not in the game. Which was stupid considering it was their chant thing.

Troy, Chad and I were currently walking from our fourth period class to lunch and I was almost at my wits end with the whole protection thing. They were on either side of me, and as we walked down the hall, everyone parted ways to let me through 'safely'

"So are you guys gonna come to Matts party tonight?"

"Nah were just gonna stay in and watch some movies and stuff" Troy said as he slung his arm over my shoulder

"Ahem"

"Its gonna be awesome though"

"Maybe the next one. We just want a night in. we've been to too many parties"

"_Ahem_"

"Alright man. Ill tell you how it goes"

"Sweet as"

"EXCUSE ME!" Everyone that was left in the hall looked towards me. I'm pretty sure all they would have seen was one pissed off chick. There was probably steam coming out of my ears I was so angry. Within about two seconds, the entire hallway was empty

"What?" Troy asked innocently as he looked down at me

"I'm standing right here. Do I not get a say in what I do in my spare time? What if I wanna go to the party?" I said getting quite loud as I turned to him and poked my finger at his chest

"Well you're always saying that we go to too many parties"

"And what if I changed my mind?"

"Well -" he said as he held up his hands in defence and backed up towards to lockers

"You know what? Screw it! I'm sick of this protection! I _can_ look after myself!" I was severely pissed off by now, and I had him pushed right up against the locked

"I never said you couldn't" he looked down at how close we were, and moved his hands from his 'in surrender' position, to protecting his 'goods'

"Well then back off! If you think I need protection then you don't know me at all!" then I turned to Chad who jumped back in fear, "pick me up on your way to Matts" I said as I stalked off in the direction of my locker

--

"Brie! Come on! I said I was sorry!" troy said from the other side of my door for the millionth time

I had signed out of school after our argument and went straight home. Some how, he got inside (note to self: find out how he does it and stop him) then he spent the last hour and a half banging on my locked bedroom door

"Yeah you say you're sorry but it will be the same the minute I step into school on Monday!"

"I swear to you it will not be like that"

"Yeah right troy! You'll find a way to do it! You always get what you want!"

"I wont I swear. I didn't know you felt like this about it. I was just trying to make you feel safer"

"You were acting like my own personal body guard! I felt like I was being stalked!"

"Ok, please let me in and I swear to you I will back off. I will not act like your body guard. Just your loving, caring boyfriend"

"Not good enough!" I yelled at the door

"Ok ok… um… we can – no we _will_ go to the party"

I thought about it for a few moments. I guess that was pretty hard for him backing down from that. He was so insistent that we shouldn't go, so I guess I could forgive him. But he'd be on a short leash

"Brie? Are you still there?" troy whispered

"Yeah" I said as I opened my door to let him in, "what time are we going?"

"Um… 8ish?" he said as he took a cautious step into my room

"Ok, pick me up then" I said as I turned and walked into my bathroom slamming the door behind me

--

Ok she officially scares me. Mental note: don't piss Gabriella off. Ever.

I grabbed my phone off the passenger seat in my car as I drove away from Gabriella's

Listening to the ringing I begged for Chad to hurry up and answer the phone

"_Yo!"_

"Chad. I need you to do something for me"

"_What man?"_

"Call all the guys and tell them to back off Gabriella. Keep an eye on her, but don't let her see you. Someone has to be watching her at all times"

"_Cool. We get to be secret spy ninjas!"_

I laughed

"Sure Chad, if it makes it cooler for you. But seriously, these parties always get gate crashed and I promised her id back off, but you guys have to keep an eye on her. I don't want anything happening to her"

"_Sweet as man. Ill call the guys. See you there"_

"Laters"

--

Troy and I had been at the party for a few hours, and so far he had kept his promise. He had even gone as far as to leave me alone to talk to some of my friends for half an hour. I knew he had the team watching me, but for now I was ignoring it. As long as _he _didn't continuously watch me, he wasn't breaking his promise. As began walking around, searching for Troy I felt someone right behind me

"Hey Gabriella"

"Oh hey Malcolm. How are you?" I replied as I turned around

"Im, uh, im great! You… you, ah, you look really pretty tonight"

"Thanks Malcolm" I smiled at the obviously nervous boy

Malcolm was in my biology class, and I had suspected he might have a little bit of a 'thing' for me. The constant staring kinda gave it away, and that dopey look he got in every time I talked to him.

I had absolutely nothing against him. He was a great guy… just not my type. He was cute, not the little kid cute, but the tall, lanky, nice smile, nerdy kinda cute. Again, I had nothing against him. I mean, yeah he was a 'nerd' by definition, but I knew for a fact that my grades were better than his, so I guess that made me an uber nerd.

"So um, I was wondering if I could sit with you in biology on Monday. If you want to that is…uh…"

Yup. I was right.

"Oh, um. I actually have to sit with Sharpay. She needs all the help she can get," I laughed nervously. I felt really cruel when I saw his face drop slightly, before his big smile was put back into place

"Sure, I mean, she's your friend, why wouldn't you sit with her. Duh" he said smacking his palm on his forehead, before he began to walk away. I quickly grabbed his wrist feeling horrible that I had pretty much shot him down

"Maybe when sharpays away next you could borrow her seat?"

"Yeah that'd be cool…" he said sounding slightly happier

"So how come you're here? You don't seem like the party type to me"

"Im not normally. But a couple of friends and I decided that we may as well go to at least one wild cat party before we graduate"

"Good idea" I laughed

--

"Troy! Troy!"

I turned around to find Nicky, a sophomore who was the world's biggest butt-kisser, running towards me. The guys I was talking to all groaned and turned around in an attempt to block him out of the conversation

"What?" I snapped. Nicky was an alright guy, but he was too much of a suck up. I could only handle so much of him, and after a few beers, I was not in the mood to deal with him

"It's Gabriella!"

Suddenly I was very interested in what he was saying

"What's wrong with her? What happened?"

"Some guys talking to her. He's flirting with her! I think he spiked her drink! He's taking her upstairs!"

"I knew I shouldn't have left her alone!" I muttered as I ran inside

--

"So how do you think you did on the test the other day?" I asked

"Well fingers crossed I passed" he said as he held his crossed fingers in front of his face

"You'll pass no sweat!" I laughed "besides, we should be more worried about the exams coming up"

Suddenly Malcolm was pushed up against the wall behind him

"What did you do to her?!"

"TROY! What the hell are you doing?!"

"I told you I shouldn't have left you alone! I knew something would happen to you!"

I could see Malcolm quivering under Troy's powerful arms that had him pinned to the wall

"Troy let him go! We were just talking!"

"He was trying to hurt you"

"No he wasn't. And if you don't let him go right now, I am leaving and I will never talk to you again"

Troy took one look at my 'I'm not kidding face' and dropped Malcolm who ran the moment his feet hit the ground

"I'm sorry Malcolm!" I yelled after him

"Brie he was gonna do something to you. He spiked your drink"

I held up my hands

"I haven't had a drink all night"

"…oh…" he said looking slightly shammed

"We're going" I said as I grabbed his arm and dragged him outside

--

"I can't believe you would do that! He's my friend! And now he's probably never gonna talk to me again!"

"I'm sorry! Nicky told me that he had spiked your drink and was taking you upstairs!"

Gabriella had more or less thrown me into the passenger seat of my car and was now speeding towards my house

"You know as well as I do that Nicky's full of shit! And for that matter, why was he watching me? And the rest of the team! Don't think I didn't notice Troy. I'm not stupid"

"Ok so I'm stupid for listening to Nicky. But can you blame me for being worried about my girlfriend? You got kidnapped two weeks ago"

"Pffft. It was hardly a kidnapping. And you're doing exactly what Justin wants you to do. I've been watching you at the practices you've _forced _me to go to" she said as she shot me a dirty look, which made me sink lower into my seat, "you're too focussed on keeping me 'safe' and you cant concentrate on your game"

"I guess" I mumbled as I crossed my arms and looked out the window, "I just-"

"No. no more 'I just'" she said imitating me, "did Justin hurt me?"

"No"

"Did I need counselling?"

"No"

"Did I beat the crap out of a guy that was close to twice the size of me?"

"Yes" I mumbled as I once again sank lower into my seat

I was beginning to feel like a little kid getting told off by his mother

"Have I ever given you a reason to think that I can't look after myself?"

"No. but-"

"No buts Troy! I don't need a security team!"

"I know that now but-"

"No. no more. If you don't back off then were through!"

"brie-"

"Goodnight troy" she said as she pulled up to the kerb outside my house, letting me get out.

"Night" I said quietly as I got out of the car and watched her drive down the road

I quietly went inside and walked up to my room, and sat on my bed. I was sulking. Not that I would ever admit to anyone that at the age of 18 I still sulked, but I was.

Gabriella was right. And one thing I hated was being wrong. She wasn't in trouble tonight. She didn't need my protection. She was gonna break up with me if I didn't back off. And… and…

"She has my car" I groaned as I fell backwards on my bed

**there you go guys. sorry if its not that good.**

**since i have no life, im gonna start working on the next chapter right now**

**ttfn**

**greasegurl!**


	17. Sorry

"and then she drove off in your car

**Hey guys**

**Hehe, I swiped my parentals laptop cos they're still in aussie, so I'm sitting in ma room writing this lol it get my best ideas right before I go to bed so I figured this is the best time to write lol oh and my body clock is 2 hours behind the real time so I cant sleep!**

**In this chapter, Gabriella mentions South Auckland. For those of you that don't know, this is a place in New Zealand. Believe it or not, it's the south of Auckland lol the only way I can describe it, is that it's pretty rough sometimes. I haven't actually been to America, but I'm guessing it would be the equivalent of the Bronx.**

**This is a link for a thing that happened on a radio station in Aussie. For those of you who don't know who Hamish and Andy are… shame on you! Lol only kidding. But seriously, these guys are awesome! They're on an Aussie TV show called Rove as well. You **_**have **_**to go to the link I posted below. It's so funny! I was nearly crying cos it was so funny! Or else just cos I'm weird… but please listen to it!**

**.au/shows/hamishandandy/blog/did-you-miss-the-thing-that-just-happened/20080729-wnw.html**

**Here's the next chappy!**

**I don't own hsm. Or gossip girl : (**

**Ok, so one more minor rant. WE JUST GOT GOSSIP GIRL IN NZ!! HOW SAD IS THAT?! The first episode aired 3 days ago!! It doesn't really bother me cos I've already seen up the to Georgina stuff… I heart Nate. (You guys should watch The Covenant. He's in it. He's not a hardcore main character, but oh well.) That's about the only thing that NZ is really bad for. We get all the good shows ages after everyone else. We haven't even got the 2****nd**** season of Supernatural, but my mates seen up to the end of the 3****rd**** season. How gay is that?! Ok, ranting… sorry guys… peace!**

"And then she drove off in your car?" Zeke laughed, barely able to get the words out because he was laughing so hard

"Yeah" I said as I stared into my coffee cup, slightly hung over and very grumpy

"Man you are in the _dog house_" Chad laughed as he finished his third cup of coffee

"Don't I know it" I mumbled as I downed the last of my drink

"Did I not tell you that she wouldn't like us following her everywhere?"

"Yes Zeke. You told me. And now you can say 'I told you so'. Just please help me figure out what to do to fix it"

"Well I'm guessing apologizing would be a good start. And then calling off the boys" Zeke said

"Man your cars gonna be totaled! Your dads gonna kill yooouuu"

"No more coffee for you Chad"

"You're no fun Zekey. Ima go round to Tays place. She'll give me coffee. Bye bye boys!" Chad said as he walked out waving

"Is he alright to drive like that?" I asked as I looked over my shoulder at him leaving Starbucks, skipping to his car

"He'll be aiite. You really gotta sort this out with Gabi though. She's so mad"

"Have you talked to her?" I said turning far too fast, causing my aching head to start spinning

"Yeah. She was with Sharpay this morning. She's pissed"

"I gathered that. She told me that she would break up with me, then she ditched me on the side of the road, and then drove off in _my _car. I think she's a little more than angry."

Zeke laughed

"I think you should go and see her. Even if it's just to get your car back. Who knows what she's capable of?"

"Oh I have a fair idea" I said as I stood up tucking my wallet into my pocket and walking out, following Zeke to his car

--

"Good luck bro"

"Thanks man" I said as I got out of Zekes car and carefully shut the door, trying not to disturb the ache in my head. 4 panadol **(A/N: I don't know what you guys call it, but it's pretty much just a 'pain-go-away' tablet) **and a coffee didn't do anything to help. And I was pretty sure Gabriella wasn't going to be sympathetic towards me. She was gonna tear me to shreds. I guess I deserved it.

"Well here goes nothing" I mumbled as I trudged up to her front door

I stood at the door for a few moments, tugging at the collar of my shirt; trying to get rid of the feeling I was being strangled. I took a deep breath and then knocked on the front door.

I stood there for a couple of minutes before I knocked again. And again. And again. Then I decided I should just go inside. Gabriella didn't know it, but I knew where the spare key was hidden. I fished the key out of the pot around the side of the house then unlocked the door, carefully stepping inside, readying myself for flying objects

"Gabriella? Brie? Are you here?"

Stepping further into the hallway, I looked around. She wasn't downstairs, so I figured that she would be in her room

I slowly climbed the stairs, preparing an apology speech which I knew I would need the moment I walked into her room.

I knocked gently on her door. After waiting a few moments with no reply, I opened it and stepped inside. She wasn't in there, but her radio was quietly playing on the bookshelf. Suddenly the door in the corner was flung open.

Spinning around I saw Gabriella walking out of her bathroom towel drying her hair and wearing… nothing

"Wholly shit! Troy! What are you doing here?!" she yelled as she hastily pulled the towel around her body

"Whoa! I'm sorry! I knocked. Heaps"

"How did you get in?"

"I used the front door…"

"No shit!"

"Sorry. I mean, I used the spare key to get in through the front door"

"Spare key? We have a spare key?"

"Yeah… it's in the pot around the side of your house…" I said grinning at the fact that I knew where her spare key was and she didn't

"Oh"

"I don't know why you covered up. I've seen it all before" I laughed, trying to lighten the slightly tensed mood

She laughed as she walked past me towards her drawers. I took this as a good sign and followed her, wrapping my arms around her from behind and dropping a few small kisses on her shoulder.

"Troy…" she whispered breathily as she tilted her neck to the side, giving me access to her neck

Apparently she wasn't mad at all…

Suddenly her head snapped up straight, and she turned in my arms pushing me away slightly

"Hang on. I'm mad at you" she said matter of factly as she grabbed her clothes and stormed into her bathroom

Ok. So she _was_ mad.

"Briiieeee" I said as I sat on her bed, covering my face with my hand. The slam of the door did nothing to help my headache. Pretty soon, she stormed out of the bathroom and was pacing backwards and forwards in front of me

"You are an _asshole_ Troy. You went back on your word. You swore to me that you would back off. I could deal with your team watching me all night. At least they were watching from a distance and not interrupting my evening. But then you went and hurt one of my friends cos _Nicky _told you he was hurting me. Don't you think someone trustworthy would have told you if I was in trouble? And for that matter, don't you think one of your many spies would have stepped in and stopped him?!" Gabriella yelled

"Brie… can you keep it down a bit? Please?" I said as I massaged my temple. I knew she was gonna end up yelling, but I didn't realize it would be straight away

"Oh is poor little Troysie a bit hung-over today? I have no sympathy for you. I HOPE YOU FEEL LIKE CRAP! YOU DESERVE IT!" she yelled the last bit right in my ear

"Brie stop it! Please! I get your point! It hurts! Stop yelling!"

There were a few moments of silence before Gabriella pushed a glass of water and two tablets into my hands

"I've had panadol. It hasn't helped"

"Its not panadol. Trust me. Just take it" she said quietly as she sat down beside me and rubbed my hair away from my forehead

I looked into her eyes and saw that although she was angry with me, she still had her usual look of love

"Im sorry" I whispered before I put the tablets in my mouth, swallowing them as I downed the water

"Shhhhh" she cooed as she continued stroking my hair

After a few moments I began to feel drowsy

"I'm tired" I yawned

"And that would be the pills kicking in" she laughed quietly as she stood up, pulling me with her

"Where am I going?"

"I'm trying to put you into my bed"

--

"I like your bed"

"I know you do" I giggled

"Do you normally have marshmallows in your bed?" Troy queried as he snuggled under my blankets, hugging one of my pillows

"No I don't. I got them especially for you"

"I like you… you're… you're… nice…" Troy said before he slipped into a deep slumber

**(A/N: please don't ask me exactly what the pills were. No she is not gonna tie him up and keep him in her basement or anything stupid like that! The pills were kinda like a sleeping pill, but they make you a lil bit dopey. Or in Troy's case… a lot dopey… lol)**

Ok. I know you're thinking I'm stupid. I shouldn't have let him off the hook that easy. Trust me. He aint off the hook yet. I just want him to be conscious when I tear him limb from limb for what he did last night.

It took all my strength not to key his car last night when I got home. I was also tempted to drop it off in a bad part of town with the keys inside it. But I didn't want to break up with Troy. And I sure didn't want him to hate me. I just wanted him to realize what he did was wrong, and then for things to go back to how they were before Justin.

I looked up from my homework on my desk to find Troy sprawled out, and snoring slightly. Every so often, he let out a grunt which let me know he was still alive. I shook my head and looked back to my desk, focusing on my homework

--

I yawned as I rolled over, taking in my surroundings. I had grown used to occasionally waking up in this room. Only Gabriella was normally lying beside me

"Brie?" I called out as I began to sit up, noting that my headache was now gone

"Hey" she whispered as she stood up from her desk and walked over to the bed, sitting down beside me, "how's the head?"

"It's much better. Thank you" I said smiling slightly at her

"You're welcome" she said as she brushed the hair from my forehead before placing a light kiss just above my brow

Then she stood up and made a move to walk back to her desk

"Wait Brie" I said as I reached out and grabbed her wrist

"What's wrong?" she asked as she looked back at me

"Sit" I said, patting the bed beside me, shifting so I was sitting up properly, still under the blankets

Gabriella returned to her previous position beside me, tilting her head to the side in a curious way

I lent forward slightly and cupped Gabriella's face in my hands, before I placed a light, careful kiss on her lips. Noticing that she neither returned the kiss, nor did she pull away, I moved my face back enough to look into her eyes

"You know I am honestly, truthfully sorry for last night and the past few weeks don't you?" I whispered gently

Gabriella nodded slightly, causing our noses to rub together slightly

Smiling at the sensation. I kissed her once more before pulling her down to lie beside me on the bed, wrapping my arms around her small body

--

Lying in Troy's arms was absolute ecstasy. It would be so easy to simply forget that I was angry with him and just spend the rest of the weekend lying here with him. I was debating with myself whether I should bring up the topic of last night and disturb the peaceful silence, or if I should just let it be for a while longer. Then Troy asked where Dad and Kat were.

"They went away for a get away weekend at the spa"

"Oh. So you were home alone all night"

"Well I would have asked you to stay, but you were hardly in my good books"

It had become tradition that whenever my parents were away, Troy would stay so I wouldn't have to spend the night (or nights) alone.

Troy let out a deep breath before turning his head slightly to look at me

"Do you wanna talk about that now?"

"Are you feeling ok?"

Troy smiled

"Aren't you supposed to be mad at me? I think it's against the rules to care about the other person's headache when you're mad at them" he laughed

"Well excuse me for caring" I giggled slightly

"I'm fine" he said as he kissed my cheek, before getting out of my bed and walking over to sit on the chair at my desk

"Come and sit" he said as he motioned to the arm chair that was sitting beside my desk

I smiled slightly before I walked over to the seat and sat down, not wanting to look into Troy's eyes fearing that I would forgive him straight away.

"Please believe me when I say that I swear to you I will never again act like I did last night. I don't know what came over me. I guess… I guess I thought someone was gonna try and take you away from me. I mean, there are heaps of people that don't want the Wildcats to win the championships this year. And if they knew what it would do to me and the rest of the guys if you got hurt… well… it would be some very valuable information to have. And if it was that easy for Justin Arnold and his idiot friends to take you, then imagine how easy it would be for some bookie and a couple of his mates to take you?"

I forced myself to look Troy in the eye. I could tell that he was honestly sorry, and that he was honestly scared for my safety

"Troy, it's really sweet of you to worry about me, but I will be fine. The only reason Justin got me, was cos I didn't put up a fight. And by stressing about me, you were letting him win. He wanted you to be distracted for the championships. That's why he did it! I wish you had of listened to me when I first told you this, and then we could have avoided this whole drama"

"You're right. I'm sorry. Next time I'll listen to you" he said as he lent forward, resting his elbows on his knees

"Well get this one stuck in your head. I can take care of myself. I grew up in south Auckland bro!" I said putting on a gangsta voice **(A/N: search "Bro'Town")**

Troy laughed before looking at me once again

"Are you gonna yell at me again?" he said with a hint of laughter in his voice

"It depends. Are you and the rest of the wildcats gonna back off?"

"Yeah"

"Are you gonna apologize to Malcolm?"

"I guess"

"Will you give me your car?"

"I guess. WAIT! No way! Gimme my keys!" Troy said as he jumped up from his seat, and dove for me

"No way! You owe me!" I laughed as I stood up and ran from my room

"Come here!" he yelled as he chased me down the stairs

I ran into the lounge and quietly hid behind the couch watching him continue running past me into the kitchen. I snuck out from behind the couch and crept up behind him, before I jumped onto his back

"Crap!" he yelled as he stumbled trying to hold onto me and fix his footing

"Gimme back my keys!" he yelled as he twirled around

"Never!" I cried as we landed with an 'oomph' on the couch

"Please?" Troy pouted as he turned over so he was facing me

"Hmmmm" I pretended to think about it for a while "kiss me"

"Oh if I have to" he mumbled as he lent in to kiss me

I groaned as Troy pulled away. He pushed himself off me and looked me in the eye,

"You know, this is our first real couple fight"

"So it is" I mumbled as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his face back down to mine

"Hang on Brie. That was our first real couple fight. _But_ now we've made up. I believe this is the part of the story where we have make up sex" he said as he slipped his hands up my shirt to rest on my stomach

I laughed then shoved his hands out from under my shirt

"Nice try Bolton" I said as I stood up and began walking towards the stairs. I stopped and turned pulling his car keys from my pocket, waving them at him

"I think my new cars gonna look good in a nice shade of purple… with pink racing stripes"

"Like hell it will" he laughed as he vaulted over the back of the couch and began chasing me up the stairs

**Phew. That was hard to write. I didn't want Gabriella to just magically forgive Troy, but I didn't want her to be a complete cow and treat him like crap. That's why she drugged him! Lol only kidding. She was simply being the loving, caring girlfriend that she is! You know if you got the chance to nurse Zac Efron back to health, you'd jump at it! Don't lie! Lol**

**please dont ask what was with chad in the beginning of the chapter either. cos i have no idea...**

**Sorry about the ending btw. I didn't know how to end it… so that's where the magical ending fairy told me to stop.**

**Anyway… I thought you might like a sneak peek for an upcoming chapter…**

**I can safely tell you there's gonna be some serious letters being sent home…some good… some bad…ooooo mysterious!**

**Hehe cryptic, I know but its fun this way! Lol**

**You know you love me**

**Xoxo**

**GreaseGurl**


	18. Studying

**hey y'all**

**sooo... there has been a serious lack of reviews from you guys... not that i can exactly tell you off... im really bad for not reviewing too... but seriously, you have no idea how exciting it is finding out that you have reviews waiting for you! lol and 32 reviews for 17 chapters is really bad too... i mean, its not even 2 reviews per chapter!!**

**please!**

**ok so i know that my last 3ish chapters have been crappy as and im sorry. ive had mini writers block but ive been doing my best. the major drama will probably start in the next chapter... so ill get writing**

"Ugh! I can't wait for school to be over!"

"Join the club" I laughed as I flopped down on the grass of my backyard next to Troy, "it sucks we haven't seen each other much outside of school lately"

"Dads just been pushing us so hard since he found out what went down between us and the Knights" he said as he rolled over and pulled me into a hug

It had been close to two months after all the crap went down between the two teams. And Jack Bolton was less than pleased. He was of course happy that the guys had rushed to our aid, but he wasn't happy with the _way_ they did it. So the consequence was lots and lots and lots and lots of extra practicing.

"I know I know. Maybe we could rent some DVDs and order in pizza tonight?"

"Sounds like fun" Troy said as he began to drift off into a light sleep

--

"Whyd ya hire Grease? Do you know how badly that movie sucks?"

"Stop whining"

"But I don't wanna!" I cried imitating a little kid as I stomped my foot on the ground

"Have I not been to every single one of your games and practices since I got here?" Gabriella asked as she put her hands on her hips, daring me to question her choice of movie again

"Fine. But only once. There are only so many times you can see John Travolta in tight black jeans before you start to have nightmares"

"Oh come on! He was hot back in the day!" she laughed as she sat on the couch with the box of pizza

"If you say so" I said as I grabbed a piece and began shoveling it into my mouth

"You can't tell me that you don't think Olivia Newton John was hot in those skin tight, black leather pants?"

"No comment" I said as I looked away from Gabriella and started the movie

"That's what I thought" she laughed

--

"Troooooy!"

"Briiieee!"

"Can you _please_ stop watching basketball for 5 minutes and help me?"

"Help you with what?"

"Hello?! Studying! Exams are in a week!"

"Hello?!" I said mimicking her, "you're amazingly smart! You don't even need to study!"

"That may be the case, but id rather be safe than sorry! And you really need to study too!"

"Ugh! You sound just like my Mom!"

"And she's a smart woman!"

I put the TV on mute and walked over to Gabriella who was sitting at my desk with about 10 text books open, furiously scribbling notes from each of them.

"Whoa! Calm down Brie! Your gonna break something!"

"I am calm" she said through gritted teeth, "I just need to study. I don't know half of this stuff. If I'm ever gonna get into a good university, I _need_ to pass these exams!"

"Relax Brie! You know _all _of this stuff!"

"Don't tell me–"

"I know, I know. Don't tell you to relax" I said as I raised my hands in defense, "look at it this way; if you don't get into a 'good University', as you so call it, then when I get into the NBA I can look after you, Nathan and Alexis!"

"Nathan and Alexis?"

"Our kids" I laughed as I kissed her forehead and sat on the chair beside her

"Since when are we having kids? And why do I have to be a housewife? Why can't you be a house husband?"

"I just like the idea of you waiting for me at home and…"

"Keep dreaming Bolton"

"Joking Brie" I laughed, "now what do you need help with?"

"Do you know anything about Aristophanes?"

"No." I said bluntly, "what is it?"

"_He_, is an ancient Roman playwright"

"Oh… I've never heard of him before… what subjects that for anyway?"

"Classical studies"

"Again, never even heard of it"

"Yeah, didn't think so"

"So what do you want me to do then?" I laughed

"Can you just ask me these questions and tell me if I get them right?"

"That, I can do"

--

"Ok, we've studied for 'classics', Chemistry, Algebra, English and Biology. Anything else?" Troy asked

By now I was stretched out on the bed and Troy was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed. Scattered around us were books. And lots of them. I yawned and stretched

"Do I needa study for gym?"

"Nope"

"Then, I think that's it. Thank you so much Troy. You have no idea how much you helped me"

"You're welcome Brie. Just remember, you owe me. I missed the game cos of you" he said as he crawled onto the bed beside me

"Hmmm… talk to me about it when I'm not half asleep…" I said as I yawned once again

"Oh crap! We didn't study for any of your tests!"

"It's alright"

"No its not" I said as I pushed myself up on my elbow to look down at him, "how do you expect to get into university if you fail school?"

"Well you see… there's this thing called a basketball scholarship"

"And how do you know your gonna get one?" I laughed as I poked my finger into his chest

"Cos I'm brilliant"

"God talk about inflated egos"

"I'm joking Brie. Somehow these things just always seem to happen for me. I think the gods love me"

I thought back to the many times I had prayed to the heavens for some help but I got nothing. Yet troy got everything he needed for a great life. Ass. I guess I couldn't really hold it against him. Some people just walk in the light.

"You suck" I said

Troy just laughed.

Again, I repeat, ass.

--

"So you and Troy actually studied?" laughed Taylor

"Yeah. And?"

"You really expect us to believe that?" Sharpay asked as she dodged students trying to get to their lockers before homeroom

"Yeah I do" I laughed "you know we do things other than making out and having sex"

"Uh huh" Taylor and Sharpay said in unison as we reached my locker

--

"You helped Gabriella study?" Chad asked completely amazed

"Yeah. And?"

"No. Seriously. You studied, not '_studied'_?" Chad asked as he bounced his basketball down the hallway

"Well _she _studied. I helped her"

"That's kinky" Zeke laughed

"_Not_ what I meant!"

"Dude you're whipped!" Zeke laughed as he stole the ball from Chad and ran down the hallway with it

"Hey! Locker buddy!" Chad cried as he turned the corner and saw Gabriella as the locker next to his

"Hey Chad! You remembered where you locker was!" Gabriella laughed as she hugged Chad, and then Zeke

"Yes…" Chad blushed

"Morning babe. You ready for your exam?"

"Sure am. Thanks to you" she said as she lent up for a quick kiss

--

"Quit studying" Chad mumbled

"So is everyone ready for their first exams today?" asked Taylor in mock enthusiasm as she helped Chad put his things in the locked

"We all know Troy and Gabs are" Zeke muttered just loud enough to earn a whack from Sharpay

"What Troy and Gabi do in their spare time is none of our business. But guys, you really should come up with a better excuse" she laughed as they began walking away

Gabriella laughed as she followed them down the hallway

"We did not have sex!!" I yelled after them

The hallway went silent. I heard everyone gasp and then turn to look at me

Shit.

I slammed Gabriella's locker shut, stuffed my hands in my pockets and stormed off the laughing group with my head hung low.

Today was gonna be one long day

**this chapter was more or less completely pointless. that makes me sad :( oh well ill deal**

**SQUEEEEE! is anyone else excited about HSM3 coming up?! i am... blushes**

**dont worry guys. troy will win the game as long as gabriella believes in him, cos thats all he needs. she will make him strong (watch the trailer/listen to 'now or never' but youll probably only get the joke if you personally know me or have the same sense of humor as me... feel free to ask for me to explain though! ill try my best lol)**

**laters guys**

**GreaseGirl**


	19. Results

**Hey guys!**

**Yay for me! Two more reviews! Lol thanks guys. Would be better if I had a few more… Hint hint lol this chapter is dedicated to Nic. Or is it…? Dun dun duuuun…**

**So… I have a part from Grease 2 in this chapter, just a warning. Special prize for whoever can guess it! Sarah you're not allowed to guess.**

**I know I told you there was gonna be drama in this one, but it will definitely be in the next chapter. In fact, I'm gonna get writing straight away! Haha**

**I don't own anything : (**

"How'd your exam go babe?"

I groaned as I walked out of my class to find troy leaning against the wall beside the doorway

"I completely blanked"

"Bull shit" Sharpay laughed as she walked past me, "you fully aced that exam Gabi. You've been the top of our Bio class all year. There is no way you failed it"

"Told ya brie" troy said with his usual know it all smirk

I groaned once again as I began to walk towards my locker

"Shut up" I muttered as Troy and Sharpay laughed, following me

--

"Finally! Last exam is _OVER_!" Chad exclaimed as he threw his arms up and began running down the hallway

I laughed, watching the students squeal and dodge the flying afro boy who was now imitating an aeroplane

"Now all you gotta do is hope you pass" I laughed when I finally caught up with him at our lockers

Chad glared at me as he opened his locker and took his stuff out of it

"Thanks Gabi. I was on cloud nine and then _BAM!_ You pulled me right back down"

"Aw I'm sorry" I laughed "I'm sure you'll do fine"

"Well all I gotta get is at least a B- if I wanna stay on the team… or else, extra credit, here I come!"

I laughed once again before I patted him on his back, "I'm sure you'll do fine"

"YES! Last exam! Over and done with!" troy cried as he came running around the corner. He stopped in front of me and Chad and began to do a little victory dance.

"Omg. Looser" I giggled as I covered my face with my hands. Pretty soon Chad joined in

"Why do I hang out with you guys?"

"You know you love it" troy chuckled as he hugged me

"No. I really don't" I laughed

--

I slowly walked to my letter box a week after my final exam. With shaking hands, I collected the mail and walked back inside.

I sat down on my bed and stared at the envelope. I imagined what the letter would say,

'_Dear Miss Montez,_

_Your exam results are as follows;_

_English F_

_Classical StudiesF_

_Algebra F_

_Chemistry F_

_Biology F_

_You are stupid. Don't bother applying for University. You are destined to be a burger flipper forever._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Principal Matsui'_

Shaking my head, I attempted to wipe the thoughts of my failure from my mind.

I cautiously ripped the top of the envelope open, and pulled the letter out

'_Dear Miss Montez,_

_Your mid-year exams results are as follows;_

_English A+_

_Classical studiesA+_

_Algebra A+_

_Chemistry A_

_Biology A+_

_If you have any queries, please feel free to speak to your dean_

_Yours sincerely_

_Principal Matsui'_

--

I was greeted with an ear piercing scream when I saw Gabriella at school the day after we received our results.

"Four A+'s and one A! I passed!"

I laughed before she jumped into my arms. I spun her around, earning another squeal.

"See! I told you, you'd do great. You should believe me more often"

"Ok ok, you were right!" she laughed, "What'd you get?"

"An A, B-, 2 C's and a D"

I told you, you should have studied more!"

"It's all good. I'm doing some stuff to get extra credit"

Gabriella glared at me for a few moments before saying, "well alright then"

"Besides, I'm only going to University for Basketball"

Just then, Chad came bounding round the corner

"Did you hear?! Did you hear?!"

"Whoa Chad! Calm down!" I laughed "did we hear what?"

"Charlotte Peterson's-"

"Charlotte Petersons pregnant!" Zeke cried as he slid around the corner, sliding into Chad, pushing him out of the way

"Man! I told you I had dibs on the gossip!"

"You were too slow!"

"But I said-"

"Wait wait wait…Charlottes pregnant?" Gabriella asked

"Uh huh! Uh huh!" Chad said enthusiastically

"Oh god. You know what that means…" I said trailing off

"

"Sex Ed" Chad and Zeke said in unison

--

"Alright class. Calm down now. Everyone take a seat and hurry up so we can get this over with" yelled the school nurse

"I wonder if we will get free condoms this time" Chad muttered under his breath

"Like you would have a use for them" Taylor retorted, leaving Chad blushing

"They would come in handy. Save us some money. Were going through them like they're going outta fashion" troy announced

"Yeah and at that rate you wont ever need any again" I laughed as the gang sat down in the desks that had been set up in the gym

"Ahem! As you all know, there have been some very serious rumors circulating about a student at this school being pregnant. And management feel it is best if we inform you of the dangers of unsafe sex"

"Safe sex can be pretty dangerous too… I mean, mix alcohol and a horny guy and BAM! You can have sex with some pretty fugly guys" someone behind me muttered, causing all the girls around us to start laughing

"Excuse me girls. Is there something you wish to share with the rest of us?" Mr. Bolton (who just so happened to be the supervising teacher) asked

"No sir"

"Good. Now remember everyone; the safest sex is no sex"

I kinda got the feeling he was looking directly at Troy and I. Of course. Dad _had_ to telI Jack. I felt the need to groan and cover my face, but thankfully the nurse took over once again.

"Now what is the best time of the month for a woman to conceive? Jason?"

"Whats 'conceive?"

"well you know... uh... to be fertile. Whats the best time?"

"Ask Troy"

"Troy?"

Troy's head shot up from the magazine he was reading, and he gave the nurse a questioning look,

"Troy?

"Ask Zeke"

"Jason?"

"Ask Chad"

"Chad?"

"Wha…?"

"Conceive? When is the best time?"

"At night?"

The whole room erupted in laughter

"Alright, alright! Everyone, calm down!" the nurse yelled through her own laughter, while Jack shook his head in disbelief that such stupidity could come out of one of his best players mouths.

"Would anyone care to inform Mr. Danforth when the best time for a woman to conceive is?" the nurse questioned

This sure was gonna be one _long_ day

--

"I'm gonna pick you up at 7" I informed Gabriella, not even bothering to ask if she was busy

"Excuse me? What if I'm busy?" she asked with her hands planted on her hips

"I know you're not, so don't even pull that one. Just please be ready? I have something special planned"

"Oh?" I could almost see her ears prick up at the word 'special', "where are you taking me?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around my back.

I knew that _she_ knew I wasn't gonna tell her anything. I had to give her credit for trying though.

"Nuh uh. I'm not telling you" I said as I placed a small kiss on the tip of her nose

"You're cruel"

"You'll deal with it" I said as I kissed her once again, before removing her arms from around my back, leaving her standing on her front porch. Once I got to my car, I turned to see her glaring at me

"Dress nice. I'll see you at 7"

She poked her tongue at me before going inside, slamming the door, leaving me chuckling to myself as I got into my car

**Laters guys**

**Xoxo**

**GreaseGurl**

**p.s. I don't actually have a prize for the winner, but ill give you a special shout out in the next chapter… or the one after…**

**p.p.s. sorry guys, i posted the chapter, but then remembered i had to change somthing so i had to delete it and then re-post it... my bad...**


	20. Out with it man!

**Congrats XXCharisma-cakesXX you guessed right!! So this chapter is dedicated to you!! Snaps for you!!**

**The part taken from Grease 2, is the part about when the best time is for a woman to conceive… completely pointless to the story but I liked it lol**

**Oh and sorry for the typo in that bit. I changed the names around… obviously not properly though**

**There's drama in this chapter, as promised**

**Now for this chapter, I would really like to hit at least 40 reviews, which is really sad considering there's 20 chapters!!**

**Pretty please?!  
**

I hated being told to simply 'dress nice'. It didn't tell me anything about how I should actually be dressed. For all Troy knew, my definition of dressing nice could be a pair of ripped jeans, a faded old t-shirt and a pair of jandals. **(A/N: Thongs, flip flops, whatever you wanna call them)** So in the end, I decided on a knee length pale blue dress and some simple matching flats with my hair down in its usual messy curls. If it wasn't good enough for him then too bloody bad.

I knew I had chosen a 'nice' outfit when I saw Troy's face. His mouth literally dropped open and he was speechless for a few moments, which is a big deal for Troy who barely ever shuts up.

The moment I got into Troy's car, he put a black blindfold over my eyes preventing me from seeing anything for the entire half hour journey. Once the car finally stopped, Troy began to lead me in what seemed like circles.

After a while, I refused to go any further until he let me take off his blindfold.

"Nuh huh. No way Brie. You gotta follow my rules. Tonight there is a T rating in place"

"Fine" I said as I stopped walking and folded my arms across my chest "I'm not going anywhere"

I heard Troy groan, and then suddenly I was being picked up, and thrown over his shoulder, before he continued walking

"You take off that blind fold and-"

"And what Bolton?"

Troy stopped and put me down in front of him. He lent in close. Although I couldn't see his face, I could 'feel' it. I knew his mouth was just in front of mine. Barely even a centimeter separated us

"If you take off that blindfold, I'll never kiss you again"

Then he turned me around and started pushing me towards our destination.

"Ok Brie. We're here"

"Finally!" I said exasperatedly as I ripped off the blindfold, "why are we in the… school gym?"

"Well you're always saying how our lives are so clichéd, so I wanted to do something different and out of the blue to celebrate you passing your exams"

"Oh… ok. And that meant a date in the gym? Where just this afternoon, we had a sex talk?"

"Sure did" he laughed as he took my hand and began leading me to a table set up in the corner

"How'd you get us in here?"

"Are you forgetting who my father is?"

"Oh. Right. You stole the key didn't you?"

"Borrowed. I borrowed the key"

"He's gonna kill you when he realizes it's gone"

"I'll deal with it later" he laughed as he pulled out the chair for me to sit down

Then he began emptying the contents of a chilly bin **(A/N: Cooler, esky… whatever)** on to the table

"Coke and lasagna?"

"Yeah. Mom made it" he blushed

"Well at least I won't die from it then" I laughed as Troy sat down opposite me

"Are you implying the food I cook isn't edible?"

"Would I ever suggest such a thing?" I asked in fake horror as I placed my hand over my heart

"Yeah you would" he laughed as he began serve our dinner

"We should be getting our college letters back in a few weeks" he told me

"Mmm"

"You still aren't sure about college yet are you?"

"I wanna go to college, but… it's just…"

"You're not sure where you want to go?"

"I want to go to U of A, but I doubt if I will get in"

"Of course you'll get in. They'd be stupid not to want you"

"mmm. You'll find out about your scholarship in the next few days wont you?"

"Should do" he said with a grin, as he poured my glass of coke

Although the meal was simple, it was delicious. After close to 6 months of staying at Troy's house every few nights, I knew that Lucille Bolton was one of the best chefs out. I had, had her lasagna many times before, but somehow tonight's one seemed better. I think it was the mood and the setting that made it so great. Yes, we were sitting in the smelly school gym, but it was still the single most romantic evening of my entire life.

--

"Mmm that was delicious" Gabriella said as she stretched and lent back in her seat, "I could do with a nap now"

"Well too bad" I chuckled as I walked around to her seat and lifted her slack body off her seat

"Troooooy… leave me alone. I wanna sleep"

"Well too bad. I have another surprise for you"

At the word 'surprise' her head snapped up.

"Surprise? Ooooo I love surprises! What is it?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise would it?"

"Ha-ha. Very funny. Now tell me"

"In a minute" I laughed as I stood her in the middle of the basketball court, and walked to the corner of the room, turning on the stereo

As I wrapped my arms around her waist, I could feel her trying to stifle her giggles

"And what are you laughing at?"

"You're trying not to make this a clichéd night, yet you're ending the evening with a 'romantic dance'"

"So?" I chuckled

"It is the most clichéd thing in the history of clichés" she laughed as she lent her head on my shoulder

"Clichés are good though. They make the world go round"

She giggled once more before she snuggled closer, and began swaying in time to the music with me

"Besides, who says this is the end of the night?"

"Are we gonna go and make out in the rain?!" she asked in mock excitement

"I was thinking go back to your house…"

"Troooooy!" she whined, "Must you ruin everything by being a boy?"

"That's the reason you love me" I said with a proud smirk plastered on my face

"Shut up" she said as she lightly slapped my chest

After dancing through three different songs I thought it was time to tell her the real reason I brought her here tonight

"Brie?"

"Hmmm?"

"I gotta tell you something"

Her head snapped up once again, and she stared at me with a worried look on her face, "what's wrong? Has something happened?"

"No, no! Nothings wrong!" I laughed nervously

"Oh? Then what do you have to tell me?"

"Um… wow I didn't think this would be as hard as this…"

"Out with it man" she laughed

"Well you see… I um…" I let out an exasperated sigh as I tipped my head back to stare at the ceiling

I had thought about this moment so many times before, why was this so hard? I knew what I wanted to say, I just didn't know how to say it.

"Troy" she whispered as she placed her hand on my cheek, "you know you can tell me anything right?"

"Yeah I know" I said as I lent into her warm hand

"Well here goes nothing. You've heard about the kind of guy I was before I met you. I was a-"

"Man whore"

I laughed once again

"Man whore. Yes. And I had never had a proper girlfriend. Until you. There was something different about you. I felt different. I knew that I would have been perfectly happy to just sit and talk with you. I didn't feel that I needed to sleep with you-"

"Bull!" she laughed "within 8 hours of knowing each other, we'd slept together!"

"Ok, ill give you that, but I didn't _need _to do that. And if I remember correctly, you were the one that wanted it"

She giggled slightly, "what can I say? I just couldn't resist"

"So I didn't feel that I _needed_ to sleep with you. You were the first girl I actually liked. _And _the first girl I got jealous over. I've been thinking about this so much lately, and I mean, we've known each other for like 6 and a half months, but… I just… just… ugh!"

--

Troy was so cute when he got all tongue tied, and couldn't get the words out right. I laughed again watching him groan in frustration. I quickly pulled his head down to mine and pressed my lips against his.

Once again, he groaned, before returning my kisses

"I love you so much" he whispered as we slowly pulled away from each other. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and then closed again as he mumbled "fuck!" and lent his head on my shoulder

I gasped before asking him what he said

"I said, I love you so much" he mumbled into my neck

I placed a hand on either side of his head, forcing him to look at me

"Again"

Suddenly he was grinning from ear to ear

"I love you" he said louder and more confidently this time

"I love you too" I giggled as I lent in for another kiss

--

I couldn't stop smiling as Troy drove me home after our wonderful, completely clichéd evening

"Kat and Stephen are home by the looks of it"

"Yeah, first Friday in months"

Troy laughed as we pulled into my drive way. He put the car into park and turned to look at me, before kissing me again

"Goodnight" he whispered as he tucked some of my hair behind my ears

"Goodnight" I smiled as I bit my lip softly

"Love you"

I threw my head back and laughed

"Really? I don't think you've told me that!" I said sarcastically

After he let slip his secret, he didn't stop telling me all night

"Goodnight"

"You said that already" I laughed again. I kissed him once more, before whispering, "I love you too"

And before he could distract me from getting out of his car again, I jumped out, waving at him as I shut the door

"Night" I called over my shoulder

"Have a good night?" dad asked as I walked into the kitchen

"Like you wouldn't believe" I chuckled as I gave him a hug goodnight and turned to Kat

"We'll talk about it in the morning" I whispered to her and she laughed

"Oh this came for you today" she called out, just before I got to the stairs

"Thanks" I said as I grabbed the envelope she was holding out to me

I bounded up the stairs floating on air, absent mindedly opening the envelope. As I sat down on the bed I began to read the letter

_Dear Gabriella Montez,_

_As per your mothers last wishes, your inheritance has been withheld from you until you reach the age of 18._

_In 6 weeks, on November 9__th__, you will receive the full amount your mother, Maria Montez, left to you._

_Also at that time, you may return, if you so wish, to New Zealand._

_To confirm your bank account details, please call my office between the hours of 8am to 5pm_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Edward J. Harrison_

Shit.

**Right. So that last little bit was absolute crap. Btw, the letter was from the lawyer. I didn't quite know how to write that in… so yeap. The next chapter will be better. I hope at least.**

**Hehe that was the smallest amount of drama I've ever read lmao**

**Oh well.**

**The next one should be better… fingers crossed**

**Xoxo**

**GreaseGurl**


	21. I have no idea

**Hey y'all! Hehe I'm so southern lol **

**Finally! It took you guys long enough to get to 40 reviews! Which is still sad might I point out! There are heaps of you with this story on your favorites and story alerts… REVIEW!! **

**Lol I'm sorry. It's just so exciting finding a new review!!**

**Ima make you guys review. I'm not gonna update until my reviews reach at least 45. (Or until Nicola beats the crap outta me…) come on! It's not that hard! (Hehe I'm so evil!)**

**Jasmineprnc****, uh no. no I don't know how to speak American lol YAY for sex Ed! Actually sex Eds really awkward… I was magically sick on that day…**

**So I've rambled for ages now…**

**On with the story!**

**Oh! One more thing! This chapter is for Sam, Larissa, Jess and Nic who are all in it! Again… on with the story!!**

"Troy! There's a letter here for you!"

I bounded down the stairs to see my mom cooking breakfast

"How'd your date with Gabriella go last night?"

"It went great. Are you gonna tease me with those pancakes, or are you gonna hand them over?"

She laughed, before handing me a plate laden down with pancakes

"So what did you two do?"

"We just had dinner, and then danced and… yeah…"

"Aw, my little Troy _can_ be romantic"

"Yeah mom, but only when I wanna be" I laughed as I began to open the envelope

_Dear Mr. Troy Bolton,_

_We are pleased to inform you, that you have been chosen to receive a full basketball scholarship to the University of Albuquerque._

_Please call the Dean of Physical Education to confirm your scholarship, and also to discuss further options you have available to you._

_We look forward to hearing from you soon,_

_Yours sincerely,_

_John F. Matheson,_

_Dean of Admissions_

"YES!" I cried as I jumped off my seat and began jumping around the room

"What? What happened?" Dad asked as he came running into the room, obviously hearing my cry of happiness

"I got in! I'm in! Full scholarship baby!" I cried as I began my victory dance

"You did? Oh sweetie that's fantastic!" my mom cried as she engulfed me in a hug

"Son that's fantastic!" dad cried as he began doing his own little victory dance

"Im gonna go see Gabriella!" I yelled as I ran out of the house clutching my letter in my hand

--

This cant be happening. This _can not_ be happening. _How_ can this be happening?!

My life was going so great that I had completely forgotten about going home. Well… going back to New Zealand at least. After all, I didn't really have a home back there.

My life was all planned out before I got here. I was supposed to go to Otago University and study to be a pediatrician, then I was gonna get a good job at a hospital, fall in love with a doctor, get married, have two kids and live happily ever after.

Ok so that wasn't exactly my plan. It just sounded good. I didn't really have much of a plan. But I did see myself still in New Zealand.

I hadn't seen my friends for close to 7 months now. Sure I'd made new friends, but I still missed home. It was after all, where I grew up. 17 years of my life was back there. I could go back to my old home (it had been rented out to some friends of my mother) and I could start my life over. Again.

Oh crap. How was I supposed to tell Troy? There is no way he'd let me even think about moving back to the other side of the world!

I was gonna have to make this decision by myself. There was no way I could tell Troy.

--

I barely even pulled the handbrake up in my car before I was running into Gabriella's house still clutching the letter as though it was the most important thing in my life.

"Hi Stephen! Kat!" I cried as flew through their kitchen in the direction of the stairs

"Hi Troy…?" I heard Kat reply

"I GOT IN!" I yelled as I flew through Gabriella's door

After a sever lack of screaming, I looked at Gabriella who was lying on her bed, hugging a pillow. She looked as though she was in another world.

"Brie?" I asked quietly as I walked to her bed and sat down beside her

"Hmmm?" she said, sitting up, shaking her head to get out of her daze

"Are you alright?"

--

"Um… yeah… just not feeling 100, that's all. What's up?"

"I got into U of A"

"That's great Troy" I said trying to put on a smile. I was happy for him. I really was. I was just a bit distracted at the moment.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah. I've just got a bit of a head ache"

"Ok babe" he said as he lay down beside me, pulling me into his arms. Something that used to evaporate any stress, but right now, only caused more.

Gah!

--

When I left Gabriella's that night, gone was the happiness and excitement of my full basketball scholarship, and it was replaced with fear. Not fear of heights or of the dark, but fear for Gabriella. She seemed really upset about something, only she wasn't telling me what.

My mind was telling me I was being stupid, and that I should just believe her when she said that she had a headache, but my heart was telling me there was something else.

--

After Troy left, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to go out and socialize, to be honest; I was in a rather depressing mood. I had barely slept all night. I tossed and turned, imagining my different options playing out in my mind.

I had a choice. I had to decide which of my lives I wanted to leave behind. Sure I had Dad, Kat, Troy and the rest of the gang here… but New Zealand was, and always would be home to me. Grrr! Why was this so hard?!

I needed a distraction. I logged onto msn and quickly blocked anyone from East High… leaving 4 of my friends from New Zealand

SaMsAm: hey Gabi Wabi! Hws America?!

Gabster: cnt complain realy

NicNic: Soooo… Hws troy??

Jess: real subtle Nic

Gabster: lol um… hes… gud…

Larissy: jst gud? Ur stil wth hm rnt u?

Gabster: yeees…..

Jess: then whts wrng?!

Gabster: I gt a lettr th othr day sayn tht I cn cum bak 2 nz

SaMsAm: nd hes pissed?

Gabster: no

NicNic: he wnts u 2 go?

Gabster: no…

Larissy: thn what?!

Gabster: he dusnt knw

NicNic: he dusnt knw ur cumin bak?!

Gabster: _I_ dnt knw f I'm cumin bak!

Jess: wht do u mean, u dnt knw? Course ur cumin bak!

SaMsAm: bt y wud she wana gve up her perfect life in ALBURQUERQUE 2 cum bak 2 us?

SaMsAm: hehe tht word craks me up

NicNic: serious convo here sam

SaMsAm: sorry…..

Larissy: y wudnt u b cumin bak?!

Gabster: I dnt knw yet

NicNic: whts he gonna say whn he finds out?

Gabster: I dnt knw

SaMsAm: mayb u cud go nd jst wait 4 him 2 call u nd ask whr u r nd thn go 'oh yea. I 4got 2 tell u… I went bak to nz'

SaMsAm: I dnt thnk he wil mind…

SaMsAm: …much

Jess: sam!!

SaMsAm: sorry…

Gabster: wht do u thnk I shud do guys?

Larissy: we cnt say. Were biased. We wnt u 2 cum bak

Jess: yea we miss u

Gabster: I miss u guys 2…

SaMsAm: I like bananas…

NicNic: SAM!

Jess: SAM!

Larissy: SAM!

SaMsAm: WHT?!

Gabster: u guys havnt chngd much hav u?

Jess: nope.

Gabster: haha

NicNic: look at t ths way gabs. U cn cum bak, nd f t isn't hw u remember, or wht u wntd, thn u go bak. No biggie

Gabster: but…

Larissy: u knw, Nic has a point

Jess: Larissa has a point about Nic havn a point

SaMsAm: yea and Jess has a point about Larissa havn a point about Nics point

Gabster: Ok! Ok! I get it!!

NicNic: finally lol

Gabster: I guess I'm cumn bak then…

"how am I gonna tell Troy?" I mumbled to myself

--

"Where's Gabs?" Chad asked as I walked through the front doors of school alone the next Monday

Recently, she had decided that we could walk into school together without creating a riot

"no idea. I went to pick her up this morning and she had already gone"

"really? Maybe shes tryna work on extra curricular thingys to fix her A"

"hmmm maybe" I murmured.

I knew something was wrong with her. On Saturday she said that she wasn't feeling well, and I believed it then. But when she didn't answer any of my phone calls and only answered my texts with one worded answers, I knew she wasn't sick. The problem was, I didn't know what was wrong…

--

I didn't mean to ignore or avoid Troy. It just happened. My Bio teacher asked me to stay for homeroom and the next two periods to help her with something (I was so out of it that I didn't even know what I was doing) so I didn't see any of the gang until 3rd period, which was (stupidly) Biology with Sharpay

"hey Gabs. Where've you been all morning? Troy's looking for you"

"oh uh, I've just been in here helping Sir"

"oh? Well Troy's been ringing you and hes kinda freaking out a bit"

"I didn't mean to freak him out. I just lost track of time"

"seriously Gabs. What's up with you? None of us saw you all weekend, and this morning you… well you disappeared. Troy told us he went to your house to pick you up but you'd already gone. Its just not like you Gabs. You can tell us anything, you know that right? We wont judge you"

I laughed at how long Sharpay can talk for without breathing

"relax Shar. I was just kinda distracted"

"oh? About what?"

"um… its kinda hard to explain…"

"we have an hour in which I will do no work. And if I sit here stabbing you with my pencil saying 'Bug ya neighbor! Bug ya neighbor!' you will do no work either"

I caved. She was very persuasive! I told Sharpay the whole story. Even about why I came here to begin with. The gang never really knew the full story, but I could guarantee that within the next 2 hours, they would all know.

This was the one time I had seen Sharpay quiet. She was silent for around 5 minutes.

"Miss Evans?" the teacher asked

"yeah?"

"Are you alright? You havnt talked for a while…"

"hmmm? Oh yeah I'm fine" she called back to the teacher with a huge smile plastered on her face while the whole class laughed, only just noticing why the class had been so quiet

She turned to me and whispered, "so are you seriously going back?"

"I kinda have to. I mean, the rest of my family's back there and all that"

"so? What about your new family?"

"well if it doesn't work out back there, then I can always come back"

"but what's gonna happen when you tell troy? I mean, you've still got like 6 weeks before you go. Its gonna be so hard with you both knowing your going. And hes gonna try and convince you to stay…"

"yeah I know… I've been thinking about that"

"and?"

"I – sorry – _we_ aren't gonna tell him"

"so your just gonna disappear?" she said raising one of her eyebrows at me questioningly

"of course not!"

"so what are you gonna do?"

I just looked at her

"I have no idea"

--

"GABRIELLA MONTEZ!"

After my 3rd period confession to Sharpay, I decided I didn't want to be at school any more. I signed out and went straight home, sending a brief text to Troy to tell him that I still wasn't feeling very well so I was going home. I had no other communication with any of the gang until I heard Taylor storming up the stairs. Dad and Kat weren't home so I could only assume she knew where the spare key was too

"How come you didn't tell me you were going?!" she cried as she flew through my door closely followed by a breathless Sharpay

"I didn't have time"

"but you told Sharpay"

"well she was in my class… and it just kinda came out"

"so she's not lying then?"

"nope"

"so your actually leaving?" she asked as they sat on my bed watching me absentmindedly surfing the internet

"yep" I said as I turned to them

"I told you!" Sharpay yelled at Taylor

"and what are you gonna do about Troy?"

"I honestly don't know"

**so thats the end of that chapter. remember, 45 reviews!!**

**laters dudes... or dudettes... pffft. whatever lol**

**GreaseGurl xoxo**


	22. giving it away

**Hey guys!**

**Wow. It took like 12 hours for the measly 5 reviews I asked for lol**

**Sorry it's taken so long! I been real busy…. And you know how some chapters just flow and you don't need to think about them? Well this is not one of those chapters (angry face)**

**So… Ima start this chapter off with a little story…**

**The other day (Wednesday to be exact) I was casually brushing my teeth (as ya do) and then suddenly my eye got real itchy. So I itched it. Little did I know, there was tooth paste on my finger, which was then transferred into my eye. It stung for a wee bit… but then it felt quite… refreshing lol**

**So I went to school (again, as ya do) and I told my friends (Nicola and Jess) what had happened. Needless to say, they thought I was an idiot. And mocked me for a few hours. They also mentioned that I have to be the only person alive capable of doing that.**

**Then on Thursday, I was sitting in class with Sam and Jess (Larissa was there, but she was doing her work… we weren't blush I think we were playing cards) and Sam suddenly goes "Omg! This morning I got toothpaste in my eye-" and then me and Jess started laughing so hard we were crying and eventually explained to Sam that I had done the same thing the morning before. Except that Sam spat into the sink and it bounced into her eye (personally I think her ones stupider)**

**And then today (Tuesday) Jess goes "oh yeah! I was gonna text you and tell you, but I forgot! I got toothpaste in my eye on Friday!" apparently, she was counting her brushstrokes and her toothbrush slipped and hit her in the eye… I think she wins the stupid award of the week.**

**So I ask you! Have you guys ever got anything weird in your eye?! Or somewhere else… not sure if I wanna know where though…**

**Ok now that's all over, im going to let you read the story now… sorry it's so crappy! I hate this chapter!**

By the time Thursday rolled around, I was dead set in my decision. I was going back to New Zealand. And nothing was gonna stop me. I wasn't going to tell troy. He would try and convince me to stay. And eventually he'd get his way. He always did.

I sat nervously waiting in my room. Today was the day I had to do it. I had avoided school and Troy for the past two days, until I could put it off no longer.

Troy was going to pick me up in about 10 minutes and then I'd have to tell him. He would be upset to begin with, but he would soon go back to his old ways and he would completely forget about me.

"Ella! Troy's here!" dad called from downstairs

"Coming!" I yelled as I took a deep breath, grabbing my bag and running downstairs

My hands were shaking as I opened the door to his car and got inside

"Hey brie" he said as I shut the door

"Hi" I whispered in reply

--

Something was still wrong with Gabriella. I could feel the stress radiating off her body the moment she opened the car door

As I lent in for a kiss, hoping to help relieve some of her stress, she turned her head to the side causing my lips to land on her ear.

I sighed and lent back onto my side of the car and started the engine.

The car ride was silent except for the radio playing quietly. As we pulled into the school car park, Gabriella finally spoke.

"Troy, we gotta talk" she said as she turned and looked at me

"Yeah we do" I said quietly as I took her hand, only to have her pull away once again

I groaned

"Brie. Tell me what's wrong. Please" I begged her

"I – I'm trying. It's just so hard"

"You can tell me anything Brie. You know that"

"Yeah, but this is harder than most things…" she whispered as she turned to look out the window

It was then I knew that something was wrong

"Brie?" I tried to hold her hand again

"Troy don't. Please. You're only making this harder"

"Making what harder?! Tell me what's wrong!"

"Us Troy! I can't do this anymore! I can't deal with the eyes watching me all the time! All the gossiping and whispering! It follows me down the halls, and in my classes! I can't do anything without someone knowing about it!"

"Well I'll tell them to back off Brie!"

"Troy it's not that easy! They're always going to be watching! I just… I just can't do it anymore…" she said trailing off

"So… what? You're breaking up with me?"

"Yeah… I'm sorry" she whispered as she got out of the car, quietly closing the door

--

"Hey Gabs!" Chad called out as he neared our lockers

"Hi Chad" I whispered

"What's wrong?" he asked, obviously noticing the hurt in my eyes

"Me and Troy broke up"

"WHAT?!"

"Chad! Shut up!"

Everyone in the hallway had turned to look at me and Chad. I grabbed his arm and tugged him into an empty nearby classroom

"God you have a big mouth!"

"Im sorry but… you guys broke up?"

"Yeah"

"When?"

"This morning" I said as I sat on one of the empty desks

After a few moments of silence, Chad finally spoke up

"So who broke up with who?"

"I broke up with Troy"

"Why?"

"Hard to explain"

"Try me"

Just then, the bell for homeroom rang

"I uh gotta go. Ill talk to you later"

--

It was 3rd period, and I hadn't seen Troy since I left him in his car

"Pssssst! Zeke!" I whispered as I slightly lent over the aisle between our desks

"What?"

"Have you seen Troy?"

"He's in the gym. Has been since… uh this morning…"

"…oh…"

--

I stood at the 3 point line on the basketball court in the gym throwing the ball aimlessly at the hoop, trying to wrap my mind around what had happened this morning.

She broke up with me. She _broke up_ with me. _She_ broke up with _me. She broke up with me!!_

It didn't matter how many times I said it, it still wouldn't make sense to me. Last week everything was fine. But now…

I gave her my heart. My whole heart. And she took it. She took it and tore it into a million pieces.

And god it hurt.

I had never cared so much about a girl before. And now I remembered why. I had seen so many people have their hearts broken. That was why I only ever had flings and one night stands. We both went into the affair knowing it was only a short term thing, and that neither one of us would get hurt. Of course there had been a few girls who expected more from me, case and point Natalie, and now I knew how they felt. It was the most horrible feeling ever, and I didn't wish it upon anyone.

"Hey man"

I heard zeke call as he jogged up to me, holding his hands out for me to throw the ball to him

"Hey" I replied quietly

"You alright?"

"As alright as I can be I guess"

"You know she'll realize she's made a mistake right?" he asked as he threw the ball into the hoop

"I don't think she will. She's pretty stubborn"

"But you guys love each other"

"Didn't seem to make a difference when she broke up with me"

"Just give her time man"

"Yeah whatever" I mumbled as I turned to walk to the track outside

If basketball didn't help, a very long run would have to work

--

_Did you hear about Troy and Gabriella?_

_They broke up!_

_Well I heard she caught him sleeping with Natalie_

_Nah, she's secretly been dating Justin_

_Nah uh! No way! Troy and Gabriella have just been a cover for Gabriella and Jason_

If Gabriella thought breaking up with me was gonna stop people talking about her, she sure was wrong. By the end of the week, the rumors and whispering had doubled, to the point where I couldn't take a step without hearing one of our names.

I waited for the bell to go and the hallways to empty, before I left the safety of the gym and walked to my locker

"Troy" I heard someone say quietly

"Gabriella" I said nodding my head to say hello

"We should talk"

Maybe Zeke was right. Maybe she realized that breaking up with me was a mistake

"About what?"

She had fallen into step beside me, and we were now walking towards my locker

"About us"

I stopped and looked at her. As I stared into her eyes, I could see the same pain in her eyes, as was in mine.

"What about us?" I whispered cautiously

"I don't want us breaking up to come between the group. And I don't see why we can't be friends"

I stared at her for a moment before walking off shaking my head

"Troy!"

I stopped and turned to look at her

"We can't be friends Gabriella. It's just not possible"

"Why not?"

Because you broke my heart

"It just wouldn't work" I said as I turned again, and continued on my way

--

"Have you talked to him?" Sharpay asked me as we walked through the corridors of East High 2 weeks after our break up

"Yeah. He just doesn't want to see it from my point of view"

"Why would he? You broke up with him! _And_ your lying to him" Taylor, so very kindly, pointed out

"Yeah but he doesn't know that! Does he?" I asked as I stopped and turned to look at the two of them

"No! We haven't told him!"

"We did tell…" Taylor said trailing off

"Who?!"

"Just Zeke and Chad!"

"Come on guys! You know Chad has the biggest mouth in the whole school! And Zeke can't keep a secret from Troy to save himself!"

"Sorry! But I swear to you they won't tell anyone!"

"They better not Shar!"

"They wont" Taylor said as she linked our arms and began dragging me down the hall

"Oh troy! I knew you'd come around!"

Oh god. Please tell me he's not with…

"Natalie" I heard Sharpay whisper, absolutely horrified

"What the hell?!" Taylor cried

I couldn't speak. I was too confused about what was happening. The gang had told me troy was to upset about our break up to even get out of bed on the weekends, let alone go out and find another girlfriend! Don't get me wrong, I wanted troy to move on and not be left pining over me when I was gone, but I didn't want him to move on with _HER_!

I looked at the pair. He was leaning against his locker while she stood in between his legs. She was staring lovingly into his eyes, which were very obviously trying to look away from hers. He didn't want to be there. Anyone could tell. But for some reason he was.

"Troy?"

"Gabriella" he said as he looked at me. He then dropped his face to Natalie's and began kissing her

"Troy!"

"What Gabriella?!" he yelled as he ripped his mouth away from Natalie's

"Why are you doing this?! You hate her!" I said staring at Natalie

"Who do you think you are? Walking in here acting like you rule the school. Well I've got news for you. You don't. And you lost the only thing that made you semi-popular. And now he's with me! So piss off!"

I looked at her horrified. Mouth open. Eyes bulging

"Is she serious Troy?"

"Yup. She's my girlfriend" he said as he slammed his locker and walked off leaving Natalie to trail behind

Boy, they're just giving that title away now aren't they

**There you go. It sucks. So bad. Yay! I've already got the next chapter written! Hopefully it shouldn't take to long to post! Lol my bad**

**I swear it will get better though!**

**Im not posting until I reach 55 reviews! Still so sad**

**By the way, there's a little race thing going on at the moment. Sam and Jess (friends) are having a competition to see who can review the chapter the fastest. The longest, most funniest, bestest, fastest review wins. Snaps to anyone else who joins. You wont get the fastest cos those two are geeks and are currently waiting for me to post this, and im stalling to piss them off lol but if you wanna try and get the longest, bestest or most funniest then go for it!**

**You know you love me!**

**Xoxo GreaseGurl**

**p.s. you guys are silly. There is no keyword lol**

**I LOVE CLUBBLES! (Cloud-bubbles)**

**AND I LOVE LARROWS! (Line-arrows)**

**(As you can tell we don't do much work at school. We make up stupid names for things)**

**Sam and Jess,**

**DO NOT MENTION THE FORBIDDEN WORD!!**


	23. Vodka

**Hey guys**

**Alright calm down. I'm sorry they broke up! But come on! The story wouldn't go anywhere if they didn't! Question is; will they get back together…? I know the answer, but do you…? Hmmmm**

**I have to admit though. I HATE IT WHEN SHE BREAKS UP WITH HIM IN THE MOVIES!! I hope he dumps her arse in the 3****rd**** one! **

**Ok so no I don't. But it would make a good twist…**

**So I got some really bad news today;**

**We don't get HSM3 in little old NZ until the 4****th**** of December!! EGYPT GETS IT FIRST!! Estonia gets it before us! Come on! It's not even a real country! How can you let a made up country see it before a real country that is full of tweens (and me. And Jess. And Sam. I don't think Nicola cares that much. Larissa's never seen HSM. Even though Sarah will deny it, she would too. AND SENE!! Yay! ) who would kick your arse?! I am **_**SO**_** angry!!**

**(Shame. Japan doesn't get it until the 9****th**** of February!)**

**On a lighter note, has anyone seen the video for Now or Never? Or I Want it All? Or the trailer?! GASP I. love. The. Trailer!! And the random bit in Now or Never. Don't worry everyone, Troy will win the game as long as Gabriella believes in him, cos that's all he needs! Haha god I wish he'd smile. Seriously, you kiss the love of your life, what do you do? YOU SMILE!! Not look as though someone killed your puppy! He looks so sad! He smiles for like a second before someone behind the scenes starts yelling at him "NO! NO! NO! Don't smile! You aren't allowed to! You have to look sad ALL THE TIME!" (Hsm2 btw)**

**Lol I ramble a lot. It's my fragmented mind. I love our conversations.**

**Shout outs to:**

'**special evil' who got toothpaste in her eye the same way as I did! Yay! I'm not the only one! And I think you get the funniest review too. It wasn't really anything to do with the story, but still funny nonetheless**

**Blondie2008. you win first review. You even beat the person who was waiting online for me to update! That is awesome! And cos you got rusting metal in your eye : (**

**Sammy gets longest. But she cheated. She pressed enter like a billion times. Cheater.**

**Zanessa.lover. IM SORRY! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT YOURSELF!!**

**Heres the story guys,**

"Why does he have to hate me so much?" I groaned as I paced my bedroom.

After my run in with Troy yesterday, I needed to vent

"You broke his heart" Sharpay stated, "what did you really expect?"

"I didn't mean to! I was trying to prevent _more_ heartache! It was for the greater good!"

"_I_ know your intentions were good. Taylor knows it too, but to Troy you just broke up with him. And in his opinion, your 'reason' was selfish"

"This is the reason Troy's never had girlfriends. Most of his family has been torn apart because of breakups, divorces and affairs"

"His parents even went through a rough patch a few years ago, when they were contemplating divorce. I was the most heart broken I have ever seen Troy. Until now"

"He either puts in no heart, or all of it. And the one time he put it all in with a girl, he got it smashed to a million pieces"

I groaned and fell face first onto my bed, before screaming into my pillow.

"I need to talk to him. Alone. But somewhere public so he can't kill me"

"Don't worry Hun. Well sort it out" Taylor said as she began patting my hair

--

I was once again pacing my bedroom. Only this time I was waiting for one of the girls to call me and tell me where to meet them.

Troy's gonna hate me even more after this. I can tell.

--

"I just understand why you won't even talk to her. I mean you love each other. That's gotta count for something"

"Tay, if she really loved me, she wouldn't have broken up with me"

I wish they would all just drop it. I really didn't want to talk about it. I never bugged them about their exes. Even Chad and Zeke were bugging me. And then there was the team. They all loved Gabriella like a sister, and wanted to know what happened.

To be honest, I didn't even know what had happened. One minute we were fine, the next, she was saying she hated the popularity that came with me. She was lying. I could tell. And that only made it worse. She had convinced me she loved me, yet she couldn't even tell me the truth. I hurt. Really bad.

"Or maybe she's just too scared to tell you the truth" Sharpay muttered under her breath

"What was that?" I asked glaring at her

"Oh, uh, nothing…" she replied as she began texting someone furiously

"Please at least tell me you got rid of Natalie"

"Yeah Tay I did. _That_ wasn't a very good idea" I mumbled as I picked up my burger

"Thank god" I heard Chad whisper

I took one look at my lunch and decided I wasn't hungry anymore. Scanning the crowded food court, I could hear all the whispers

_Poor Gabriella_

_I can't believe he cheated on her_

_I heard she walked in on them!_

She broke up with me! Why was everyone on her side?!

--

Finally! I thought as I read the text Sharpay had sent me

_At the foodcourt. Usual table. Hes pissed_

Gee now _there's_ a surprise

--

Finally! They changed the subject. Chad and zeke had managed to coax the girls away from my love life, and onto the topic of shoes

"Well there were these really cool pink sparkly shoes, but I really liked the black ones-"

"Yeah the black ones looked really good on you and… uh… why don't we show them to the boys again _Shar_" Taylor said nodding her head at something

"But I wanna-" Chad started

"_Now! _Chad!" Sharpay said through gritted teeth

"Fine!" Chad said as he and zeke caught onto whatever they were hinting at

What the hell are they up to?

--

Thank god Sharpay and Taylor noticed me before Troy did so they could clear out and leave me alone with him.

Once the group had gone and left troy sitting alone, I took a deep breath and walked over

"Hi" I said nervously as I sat down

Troy looked up at me, and I could swear I saw a flash of hope in his eyes, before it was quickly covered with a glare directed completely at me

He had dark rings around his eyes. And I would bet anything that they were from lack of sleep. I had the same problem.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his face, in both happier times and in the more recent, heart broken ones.

"What do you want?"

"We need to talk"

"Why Gabriella? All the talking's done"

"Troy…"

"I gave you my heart. My _whole_ heart. Something I've never done before. But you just ripped it apart. You have no idea what this feels like" he was close to tears. I could hear it in his voice

"I do Troy. I really do – "

"No you don't!" He said almost yelling, "Cos if you did we wouldn't be in this situation would we?"

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to make his – our pain go away.

Troy suddenly slammed his fist on the table.

"Gabriella, you just… ugh forget it" he said as he got up and walked away

I was trying to make it better. But it just kept getting worse and worse. I thought I was helping him by letting him go. He could move on with his life and not have to wait for me. I was leaving in 2 weeks!

_I don't know what to do anymore!_ I thought as I put my head in my hands. I could feel the tears threatening to fall.

"Boy problems?" I heard a voice chuckle

I turned to see who it was

Justin…

"You could say that" I said returning the small chuckle

He moved to sit opposite me in the booth

"Where's your team? I thought you guys were glued together"

"They're out with girlfriends"

"Really? Your whole team?"

"Other then me. Yeah"

I laughed slightly, "I really shouldn't be talking to you"

"Me neither. But who really cares. Its not like Bolton can beat me up for it"

"No. I guess no" I murmured

"You wanna talk about it?"

I looked around. Almost everyone was looking at the two of us. This was _not_ good.

"We can go somewhere else it you want" he offered, as though he was reading my mind

I really did need to talk to someone else about my problems. Sharpay and Taylor kept telling me that same thing over and over again

"Ok. Somewhere else though"

Besides. I needed a ride home

--

"So what happened between you and Troy?"

Justin had driven us to the park. The one that Troy and I had 'gotten to know each other'

I eyed him suspiciously

"What's your motive?"

"What do you mean 'my motive'?" he laughed

"You've talked to me once before this. And it was to piss Troy off. So why the sudden interest in my life?"

"Let's just say, I've been on the bad side of Troy. A lot. And you looked like you needed someone to talk to"

"What are you gonna do with the stuff I tell you?"

"Nothing! I swear! I just thought you needed a friendly ear!"

I eyed him suspiciously once again

"How do I know your telling the truth?"

"Ok, how about… for everything you tell me, I'll tell you one of my secrets"

"They gotta be good, juicy secrets. Ones that I can use against you if needed"

"Yes. I swear to you, they will be good secrets"

"Fine" I said as I shook his hand

"So you and Troy broke up. What happened?"

"Well I'm only supposed to be here until the beginning of September, when I turn 18. Then I go home to New Zealand"

"And when you told Troy, he flipped?"

"I haven't told Troy"

"So why'd you guys break up then?"

"I didn't want him to try and convince me to stay. And I'm pretty sure he'd notice if his girlfriend suddenly disappeared. So I told him I couldn't handle the gossip and rumors that come with being his girlfriend"

"Ouch"

"Yeah I thought he'd understand. But he really didn't"

"And now you're East High enemy number 1?"

"No. the whole schools divided into two. Mostly on 'team Gabriella'. And if anything, the rumor mill has gone into overdrive. And most of the rumors surround Troy cheating on me"

"So he's really pissed then?"

"That's the nice way of putting it. Your turn"

He laughed and thought for a few moments

"Ok. Got it! My middle name is Eugene" **(im sorry. i love that name. its so cool. a guy in grease is called eugene. hehe)**

"Come on! They gotta be real secrets!"

"It is a real secret!" he said as he pulled his drivers license from his wallet

"You weren't kidding! Did your parents hate you or something?" I laughed handing him back his license

"It's a family name. And no one outside my family, other than you, knows that secret"

"Well I feel privileged"

"As you should"

I just laughed

"So are you really gonna just leave without telling him?"

"That's the plan. I had hoped he would get over me and move on, so he wouldn't even notice I was gone"

"Somehow, I think he'll notice"

"Yeah. I just don't know what to do"

"Ok. You never heard me say this, but Troy's a really good guy. Hes one of the most loyal, caring and trustworthy guys out there. He just finds it difficult to show that side of him sometimes. I think he'd understand if you told him"

"That _could_ work if he'd actually listen to me. I think im just gonna stick with my original plan. I'll just avoid him and then leave. Not that I've been doing a very good job of avoiding him…"

"Well if you think that will work…"

"It has to"

We both sat thinking for a few minutes

"You owe me another secret"

He laughed and turned to look at me

"The 'thing' between me and Troy isn't rivalry"

"It isn't?"

"No. Troy literally hates me. Our parents were best friends so we grew up like brothers. We both fell in love with basketball together. The first time we broke our arms, we were fighting over a basketball while we were sitting in a tree" he said laughing as he reminisced, "Our first crushes were on the same girl. Oh the fights we had over her"

I laughed with him before asking, "So what happened?"

"I don't know if you heard, but Troy's parents went through a rough patch a few years ago"

"yeah I heard about that"

"well my Dad and his Mom got kinda close during that time… I don't think they ever actually, well you know, 'did it'. But they were spending a lot of time together. Late nights, weekends, all that stuff. I had figured out pretty early on in the 'affair', but Troy and his Dad had no idea. I mean, they had suspicions, but they definitely didn't know it was with my Dad. So when Troy found out that I had know, it was like I personally ruined his family. He stopped talking to me and pretty soon the 'rivalry' began. Its been the same since"

"wow."

"yeah. I left East High pretty soon into my freshman year. My parents got divorced. And here we are today. No one really knows what happened other then me, Troy, and now you"

"so he just stopped talking to you?"

"that's how major trust and honesty are to him"

"I didn't know it was _that_ major to him. I guess he'll never forgive me then"

"oh I don't know about that. I've seen the way he looks at you. He loves you"

Those three words took me back to when Troy first said he loved me. It was one of the best feelings, knowing that someone loved me. And not because they had to, but because they chose to. And then I went and ruined it…

No… I cant keep thinking like that. I'm doing the right thing here

"um… I'd better get going… I don't want my parents to worry" I said standing up

"uh, yeah… I'll give you my number so you can call if you need to talk or anything"

"yeah that'd be good" I laughed

After swapping numbers, we stood looking at each other. This was awkward. We were supposed to be enemies. Yet Justin was the only person to truly listen to me, and understand the pain I was going through.

I reached out to give him a hug

"thanks for listening"

"you're welcome" he laughed as we went our separate ways

--

After my latest argument with Gabriella, I didn't really feel like hanging out at the mall. I was too worked up. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to rip my heart out so it wouldn't hurt anymore.

Once I left the food court, I walked straight to my car and went home

My usual therapy was basketball. Today? It wasn't helping. So I grabbed my ipod and began running down the street. I had hoped the blasting mysic in my ears and the rhythmic beating of my feet on the pavement would drown out my thoughts of Gabriella. If this didn't work, I'd have to find some serious alcohol.

After 10 minutes of running, my head was starting to clear. I knew it wouldn't last long, but I'd take anytime I could get. As I rounded a corner, I sat it. The park. 'our' park. Where Gabriella and I had first gotten to know each other.

Oh great. A happy couple. I thought as I saw a pair of teenagers hugging. Just what I need

Hang on. That's… I need some vodka.

**Ok, I hope I made you guys happy. Troy and Natalie… Ew shudders**

**Any who, lets try for 70 reviews this time… good luck lol**

**Before you ask, no Troy is not an alcoholic.**

**Natalie might come back… don't know yet… **

**Sam and Larry, Justin isn't a real person, so its weird that you think hes sexy. Weirdos.**

**You know you love me,**

**Xoxo**

**GreaseGurl**


	24. dont panic! its just an authors note!

Hey guys,

**Hey guys,**

**I am sooo sorry**

**I hate author's notes too!!**

**But I just wanted to let you all know that I've just posted one of my other random stories I wrote when I was grounded…**

**Its called Crazy Little Thing Called Love**

**And since you all read ****My Own Cinderella Story, I thought id let you in on the proper summary, cos the one I wrote for it sucks.**

**Story goes, Gabriella currently attends West High, but her Mom gets a promotion (big surprise) and she has to move to East High (there's a shocker!!)**

**So she packs up her life, leaving her boyfriend and all of her friends, and moves into East High territory**

**As you can guess, she doesn't like Troy much (again, what a shocker! lol) and he makes it his mission to get her**

**Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah**

**That's pretty much what happens in the first and second chapters, so get reading!! Lol**

**Keep reviewing, gotta get to 70 remember, 7 to go!!**

**Laters guys**

**GreaseGurl**


	25. Ill think about it

Hello all,

**Hello all,**

**Sorry this chapter took so long to update. I'd written the other chapters (more or less) I just hadn't finished this one, so sorry if it's not very good. I'm so excite about the ending!! (Of the story) Lol**

**I don't really have anything fun to say this week. It hasn't been a very exciting week if im being honest…**

**Oh! There is one thing, **

**With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed a few weeks ago.**

Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote 'The Hokie Pokey' died peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started…

Shut up. You know it's funny!

After my talk with Justin, I spent the weekend thinking about how I could tell Troy the truth.

I didn't want him to spend weeks moping around because I left and I didn't tell him. But I didn't want to tell him too soon because he'd be… well, he'd be Troy.

I couldn't leave him a message on his phone, because he might answer the phone… and that'd be awkward…

I couldn't send an email… what if he checked them earlier than I expected? _And_ it was too impersonal

I figured since my life here had been like a movie, I may as well stick with it. So I decided I'd write him a letter, and I'd get the gang to give it to him. That way, he would get it when I wanted him to.

Now, what to write…

--

"Hey Troy! What's up?" Nicky asked as I walked into school

Since I saw Gabriella in Justin's arms on Saturday, I had been in a rather bad mood to say the least

"Nothing" I told him as I walked past him and his attempt at a high five

"Whoa man. What's with you? I know you don't like Nicky, but that was harsh"

"Yeah whatever Chad" I said as I continued walking down the hall. I knew Chad and Zeke were following me, but I really didn't care

"What happened to you on Saturday? You just disappeared and then we didn't hear from you for the rest of the weekend" Zeke asked

"I ran into Gabriella" I said as I turned to look at them angrily, "but you two knew that already didn't you?"

"Look man, we were just worried about you two, and she asked Shar and Tay to get you alone so she could talk to you" Chad said defensively

"And what about what I want?! What if I don't ever want to see her again?!" I yelled. I knew people would be watching, but I really didn't care

"Listen man, we just-"Zeke started

"No. You listen! You can quit keeping her secret from me! I know about it! You don't need to protect me!"

"Protect you from what?" Zeke asked, scared shitless

"Justin and Gabriella's little secret"

"Justin and Gabriella?" Chad asked cautiously

"I saw them. It's not like they were particularly hiding it from anyone"

"Hiding what?!"

"For crying out loud Chad! I know they've been dating or what ever behind my back. I saw them at the park on Saturday afternoon. So don't stand there and pretend you don't know!"

"We didn't know!" Chad defended

"Yeah right"

"We honestly didn't. Were as horrified as you are!" Zeke said in protest

"Maybe it wasn't what you think you saw…"

"What does this look like to you?" I asked as I held up my phone, showing them the picture I had taken of the couple in case something like this happened and the gang didn't believe me

"Wow. You weren't kidding" Zeke whispered

"Thanks for the trust guys" I said as I snapped my phone shut and turned my back on the pair

--

_Did you hear what happened on Saturday?_

_Troy snapped Gabriella and Justin!!_

_It can't be true!_

_It is! He has photos on his phone!_

_See! I told you all along that she was the cheater!_

_I believed you Troy!_

_Ugh! Look at her. Walking along as though nothings happened_

What do they mean, 'walking along as though nothings happened'?!

I DON'T KNOW WHATS HAPPENED!!

"Gabi! Get out of my way! I have to get to – GABI!!"

"Hey Tay… what's up?"

"Please tell me it's not true"

"What's not true? What's up with the school today?"

"You and Justin"

I could almost feel myself go white with terror. The last thing I needed was people knowing that I talked with Justin and didn't try to beat him up or anything. The rumors about me were crazy enough already. I didn't need some other untrue stories being spread around

"What about me and Justin?"

"You two are… together" she whispered the last part

"WHAT?! NO! How could you think that Tay?!"

"Well, Troy has a photo"

"Photo of what?"

"You two… _embracing_. It doesn't really look good Gabi"

"So that's what today's been about. Everyone thinks I'm dating Justin"

"But you aren't. So it's fine"

"That's not gonna convince anyone"

"True"

--

After a week and a half of people whispering about how much of a bitch I was, I was ready to give up. I had 2 weeks before I left and I didn't want them to be like this

"Hey Gabs. Are you alright?" Chad asked as he stood at his locker beside mine

"Yeah. Well, no. Not really"

"Im sure the rumors will die down soon. I mean, they've mostly gone. All the girls are too busy drooling over Troy" he said as he indicated to a group of freshman girls walking down the corridor following a brooding Troy

"They won't stop though. People are still gonna be saying stuff, and Troy's just gonna end up hating me more and more. The tables sure have turned" I mumbled

"He could never hate you Gabs"

"He can. And he does. Mind you, I can't say blame him. Look what I've done to him. You know, even though im leaving him, I still don't want him to hate me"

"I know you don't Gabs" he said as he pulled me into a hug

"Chad" I mumbled into his shirt

"Hmmm?"

"We probably shouldn't be doing this"

"Doing what?"

"Hugging"

"Why?"

I moved my head so I could look at him

"Do I have to remind you of what happened last time I hugged a guy?"

"Good point" he laughed and let go of me, turning back to shut his locker

"I think im gonna quit school"

"What do you mean, quit school?" he asked as we began walking down the hall

"I've got 2 weeks left here, and I don't really wanna spend it like this. Besides, I've gotta get packing and stuff"

"Yeah I guess. Schools not gonna be the same without you though"

"You'll just have to get recruiting. Maybe Natalie will join the gang"

I laughed as Chad shot me a dirty look

"Ok, ok. I take it back"

--

I hadn't seen Gabriella for close to two weeks, and I was starting to get worried. I know im not her boyfriend anymore, but I can still be worried about someone cant I? Even if I am meant to hate them…

"Hey Chad! Zeke!" I called as I trotted across the gym towards him

"Hey man. Do you think coach is mad at us? That practice was hard!" Zeke said as he threw the ball towards me

"Maybe a little. I think he's just trying to prepare us for the state champs"

"Maybe. Or maybe he's channeling you" Chad muttered as he caught the ball as it bounced off the backboard

"Yeah, sorry about that guys… I've had… erm… a lot on my mind" I said as I scratched the back of my neck

"We know Troy. We just don't understand why you won't talk to us about it"

"Zeke! You sound like a girl!" Chad whined

"What? Gabi talks with the girls about the uh, situation"

"Really? What's she said?" I asked

"Um… I don't know, they won't really tell us what she says. But from what we have got out of them, she's just really sorry and really confused about what's gone down between you guys"

"You mean… she wants me back?" I asked, seeing a glimmer of hope

Even though I had acted like a jerk, and pretended I never wanted to see her again, I would take her back in an instant. Kinda stupid, I know. But I could tell, that deep down, she still wanted to be with me, even if she was to damn stubborn to admit it.

"I don't know if I would say that… I don't want to get your hopes up, and then have your bubble get popped. Again"

"I know what you mean Chad. But do you think maybe she regrets it?"

"Look man, were throwing a surprise birthday party for her on Saturday, you should come and talk to her there. It'll give you time to think about what your gonna say to her, and how to prevent a fight from happening"

"I'll think about it"

--

I sighed as I flopped down onto my bed. Tomorrow was the day. I was flying back home. But saying that… yesterday was the day too. I was finally 18. I told Sharpay and Taylor that I didn't want a party or anything for my birthday, so last night, we sat up, watched movies, ate junk food, and had an all round girls night in.

Since I left school, all of my stuff had been packed in boxes, and stacked around my room so Dad and Kat could send it once I had gone. I looked around my room. There were so many memories for the short time I had been here. I stood up and walked over to the one box that hadn't been closed.

Reaching inside, I pulled out the' wildcat' red t-shirt I had worn to every basketball game I had been to. It was one of Troy's old ones he had given to me the night before his first game of the year. Then I picked up the photo of us celebrating the first win of the season. The wildcats were huddled together in the centre of the gym and Troy had pulled me in for a huge celebratory kiss, right in the middle of the group. As the photographer had snapped the photo, the wildcats had all turned their heads away, making 'yuck' faces. I continued looking through the objects in the box. There were streamers, and sweatbands (clean) and even one of the West High cheerleaders' pompoms. We had stolen it when she was gossiping over who was hotter, Troy or Justin

By the time I got to the end of the box, I was laughing through my tears. This was the box of memories I didn't want to forget. But some of them weren't my memories to keep

Suddenly, my phone rang

"Hello?" I said, trying to put on a perky, happy voice

"Hey gabs. Listen, I really need your help! My parents are making me go out to this stupid family dinner and I _really_ don't want to go alone. I know you're packing and getting ready to leave, but everyone else is busy! Please!"

"Relax Shar! Of course I'll come!" I laughed "what time and where?"

"8 at my place"

"Ok, I'll be at your place by 8"

"Ok! See you then! Oh and dress nice!"

"Shar!" I growled

"Ok, ok! Kinda fancy-ish"

"That's better"

**There you go guys**

**I hope it was worth the wait!**

**Crazy Little Thing Called Love should be updated soon-ish too!**

**You know you love me!**

**Xoxo**

**GreaseGurl**


	26. Now!

"Where's troy

**I hate my keyboard. Whenever I press 'enter' the volume goes up. The right hand 'shift'**** key works as a backspace, my **_**left hand**_** shift key works as a 'tab', the 'tab' key tabs backwards, I can't do the double dot thingy's (next to 'L') for some stupid reason and GAH!! It is so hard to type up these things when your keyboards fed.**

**So please be kind to me. Remember, for every line, I get music blasting even louder than it should be in my ears (I have headphones so I don't annoy the parentals, but my god! It gets loud!)**

**I have a little task for all of you. You **_**have**_** (underlined, in bold **_**and **_**italicised!) to go out and find a song called 'She said, I said' by NLT (they're the random boy band in the auditions in the Bratz movie… they so preeeetty… drool). It will fully put you into the mood for the last chapter. It's a really sad song, especially if you watch the video and listen to the words. Gasp! Watch the video! (Dayance white boys! Dayance!) If you need me to send you the song, then send me an email, (my address is on my profile)… (Goddamn right hand shift keys working proper now!) And I will send you the song… or you could YouTube it… (And while you're there, watch their other songs, 'Karma', and 'That Girl'… I think they're the only ones with videos at the moment) call me a geek/looser/freak/whatever, but I listened to it while I was writing the end, and it fully put me into the right mood. And its one of the only songs to ever make me cry. When you know the words, it really tugs on your heart strings ; ( (that's meant to be a sad face… im not winking sadly at you… I sorry…) its got absolutely nothing to do with the story (well I **_**could**_** twist it and make it work but I really cant be arsed right now...) but I think I will try and make it fit into one of my other stories… which there is only one of at the moment, but I hope to have another one up soon… gotta find a name for it…**

**So this chapter may or may not be short… it depends where I decide to leave you hanging on the cliff… hehe I so evil**

"Where's Troy?" zeke asked

"He'll be here soon… I hope" Chad said

"Gabriella's nearly here! She just sent me a text!" Sharpay yelled as she ran into the room

"Hide!" Taylor yelled to the room

--

Driving to sharpays house, I realised it would be the last time I would be here. Every moment had to count.

I watched the trees on the side of the road as I drove by. They were so pretty at night. Some of the houses had fairy lights in them, and they looked so romantic

As I pulled up to the house, I saw that only her bedroom light was on.

"Apparently were driving" I mumbled as I got out of the car

**(A/N; and there goes the shift key again…)**

I slowly strolled up to the front door, taking my time, hoping to remember everything about this night. My last night.

"Shar?" I called out as I opened the door

Suddenly, the lights were on and people were jumping out of hiding places, throwing streamers and balloons at me, and shouting HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

"Wow guys! This is… unexpected… I thought I told you no parties?"

"But we knew you didn't mean it" Sharpay said as she pulled me into a hug

"Besides, we couldn't let you go without one last Wild Cat party" Taylor said as the rest of the gang joined the hug

--

I chickened out. I was ready to go. I had the birthday present, I was dressed. I even had the apology ready. But by the time I got to my car… I just couldn't do it. I don't think she would forgive me for being a complete asshole to her anyway… even if she did break up with me. I didn't want to loose her forever, even if we had to be 'just friends'

I felt horrible. I knew I should be there trying to get her back into my life… but then it occurred to me that she had moved on. She broke up with me for Justin and I would do anything to have her back into my life, but seeing her with Justin was way too much. I couldn't do _that_.

So here I was. Lying on my bed, moping. As I had recently become accustomed to

I held up the necklace I had bought her Gabriella for her birthday. I had hoped that once she saw the 'T' hanging from the chain around her neck, she would forget about Justin and why she broke up with me, and we could jump on a horse and ride off into the sunset.

Ok, so I was dreaming if I thought that'd ever happen, but she was always complaining about how her life was so much like a movie.

I sighed and placed the thin chain on my bed side table. Suddenly my phone rang. I looked at the screen, and saw 'unidentified caller' displayed

"Hello?"

"We have to talk"

"Why would I want to talk to you?"

"It's about Gabriella"

"When and where?"

"10 minutes. The old courts"

**(OW! Loud music… Not good! And yes Miley… I know there are 7 things you hate about me! Lol I so silly!)**

--

"Where is he?!"

"He's supposed to be here!"

"Who's supposed to be here?"

"Uh… zeke! Told me… that… um…" Sharpay said, getting a fright by my sudden appearance

"He would meet Sharpay by the punch bowl…" Taylor finished

"Oh, well he's outside with Chad and the team"

"Uh… thanks…" Sharpay said as she dragged Taylor outside

I sighed and poured myself a drink. My life was like a movie right? Well then where the _hell_ was my knight in shining armour, to tell me to leave?! Honestly! One good reason and I would cancel my flight so fast no one would know what happened!

I felt like stamping my foot and throwing a little kiddie tantrum

I followed the girls outside to hear them involved in a mini argument with the two guys

"But he said he would!" Sharpay said angrily

"Noooo… he said maybe" zeke defended

"And I say shut up!" Taylor said nudging Chad in the stomach to prevent him from saying anything else

"What's going on guys?"

"Um… Chad promised us he… would…" Taylor started

"Jump in the pool!" zeke said

"Naked! Sharpay added

"What?! No I didn't!" Chad cried in his high pitched scaredy voice

I laughed, "Well if you promised Chad, then you really should"

"But I didn't!"

Pretty soon, the crowd was chanting

"JUMP! JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!"

"You _will_ pay" Chad muttered to the other three as he dove into the pool… naked. As he came up to the surface, the crowd cheered

"You're gonna pay! Its freezing!" he yelled at us

Someone threw him his boxers, and told him to cover 'it' up

As he got out of the pool, he ran at me with his arms outstretched for a hug

"Hey Gabi wabi!"

"No way Chad!" I laughed backing away from him, but he soon caught up with me and I was being dragged backwards into the pool

As I felt myself almost at the edge, I grabbed onto the closest object – Sharpay

We were both thrown into the pool with an ear piercing shriek from Sharpay

Pretty soon, most of the people at the party were in the pool, or being dragged towards it

--

After the phone call, I nearly flew out of the house. The only reason I was going was so I could kick his arse. He nearly ruined my life once, he wasn't gonna do it again.

I hadn't been to this basketball court in four years. This was where me and Justin used to come and play one on one almost everyday. It was where I found out he had known about our parents.

The wind was cold, and I was glad I had my hoodie to cover my now numb ears. I heard a ball bouncing behind me and I turned to see Justin strolling towards me with a determined look on his face.

"What have you got to tell me?" I yelled across the court

"The truth about Gabriella"

"What 'truth'? That she doesn't want me and now she's with you?"

Justin laughed

"No she's not!"

"Don't lie! I saw you two!"

"Yeah I heard about that. She confided in me. We hugged. Were friends. That's all" he said as he got closer, still bouncing the ball

"And why should I believe you? "

"Cos of this" he said as he threw the ball at me

I rolled it around in my hands. It wasn't the vibrant orange of a new ball. More of a dirty brown one that's been around for years. As I continued to roll it, I saw a black mark on it. Looking closer, I read, 'Justin and Troy, Best Buds, 1996'

Although it was corny now, at the time it meant everything. We were 6 and were running around this very basketball court, when a group of older boys let their ball stray over to us. We rolled it back to them, asking them what they were playing. Pretty soon, we were playing with them, the older boys on their knees to even up the odds a bit. Me and Justin? We were unstoppable… well as unstoppable as two 6 year olds could be. The guys let us keep the ball, telling us to always look out for each others backs, because 'nothings stronger on the court then two best buds', and that was that. We were gonna be best friends forever.

"So?" I asked as I threw the ball at him,"a dirty old ball doesn't prove anything"

"No, but the fact that I've kept it for all there years does. We were best friends troy. And you stopped talking to me because I was protecting you. Tell me honestly what you would have done if I told you what I knew from the first moment I found out?" Justin was walking closer till we were less than a metre apart

I didn't answer. I just stood, staring at him

"You wouldn't have believed me! And I would have ended up with a lot worse than a broken nose! You would've killed me for suggesting it!" he was right in my face now, the basketball rolling it's was over to the hoop

"Yeah I would've! But when I found out the truth I would have –"

"Forgiven me? Don't lie troy. You and I both know you would've held onto this grudge no matter how it happened!"

I don't know what came over me, but suddenly my fist collided with his jaw

"FUCK!" he yelled as he stumbled away, holding his hand to his jaw. He trotted in a small circle, before rounding back and punching me in the stomach

I landed on the ground with an 'oomph' and pretty soon we were rolling around trying to keep each other in headlocks, or trying to pin the other down, then suddenly, Justin gave up. I had him pinned to the ground and was drawing my fist back

"She's leaving!"

"What?" I yelled

"She's going. For good. Back to New Zealand"

"Who?" I asked, narrowing my eyes and letting my hand drop slightly

"Gabriella"

"You're lying"

"I'm not. Im trying to make it up to you! I kept something this important from you once before, and I'm not gonna do it again. Beat the shit outta me if you want, but take it as a sign of my honesty"

I looked at him, and seeing the look of hope of forgiveness in his eyes, I got off him

She's leaving? And she hasn't told me? She broke up with me so she wouldn't have to tell me she was leaving. And now she's fleeing the country? You would think I'd be mad. Surprisingly I wasn't. As hurt as I was by what she'd done, I could understand where she was coming from. Neither of us could guarantee we'd be together forever, as much as we wanted to believe we would be. I just wish she had told me. As horrible as it would have been to say goodbye to her, I would have wanted to say it properly.

"When did you find out?"

"She told me that day you saw us hugging"

I looked at him

"Hey! Don't accuse me of not telling you sooner! It's not exactly like we've been talking a whole heap"

"I guess" I said as I wiped the blood from my cheek bone, "why'd you keep the ball?"

"I guess I kinda hoped that maybe one day we could go back to being JT again" he laughed slightly as he used his shirt to wipe the blood from his nose

I nodded, understanding what he meant. Growing up with a best friend who was like the brother you never had, was the best feeling in the world. Loosing that feeling sucked. Even though I had the gang, it still hurt loosing a brother

--

"Thank you so much guys! I know I said 'no parties' but I really needed it"

"Why do you think we threw it for you Gabs?" zeke laughed

"Ok, ok, you guys were right; I was wrong, blah blah blah. And now I need to go home and rest up, cos it's gonna be a long flight home" I said as I hugged each of them

"We'll see you tomorrow?" Taylor asked

"Yeah. At my place though. I don't do the whole 'goodbye' thing at the airport very well"

"Alrighty then. 9 am at your place!" Chad laughed

--

"Do you know when she's leaving?"

"Sometime this week. She wouldn't tell me when exactly"

"_Why_ didn't she tell me?" I asked as I turned to look at him

"I don't know. I think it's just something she needs to do, and she thought you'd try and stop her"

"Well of course I would. I love her"

--

By 9 am the next morning, the gang were in my room, which was now nearly empty

"I'm gonna miss you so much Gabs!" Sharpay said through her tears as she pulled me into a hug

"I'll miss you too Shar. And you Tay"

"Do you really have to go?" Taylor asked as she joined the hug

"Yeah I do"

"Are you gonna try and sort things out with Troy before you go?" Chad asked hopefully

"There's no point. The best I can do is this" I said as I pulled an envelope out of my handbag, and gave it to Chad

"What is it?" Zeke asked as he looked over Chads shoulder

"It's a letter"

"No duh" Chad said as he turned the envelope over, trying to see what was inside

"It's a letter to troy"

"Well we knew that!" Taylor laughed

"Yeah it has 'Troy' written on the outside" Sharpay said as she grabbed the letter

"It's a letter explaining everything"

"Everything?" zeke asked, raising his eyebrows

"Yeah. Everything. At least that way he won't be moping around when I'm gone"

"I doubt that" Chad mumbled before Taylor whacked his arm

"Ow!"

"Can you guys just give it to him please?"

"Don't worry Gabi. We will" Zeke said as he gave me a hug

"Bye guys" I said as I waved to them, watching them walk out the door

--

"Right. Now that's over with, I'm going to Troy's" I said as Taylor whacked me again

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Come on! One of our best friends is leaving and all you can think of is basketball?!" Sharpay cried

"Im not going there for basketball! Im giving him the letter!" I said as I waved it in front of their faces

"But gabs sad we had to give it to him… she didn't say _when_! Zeke said with a smile

"Exactly!" I said as I got into my car

"You guys coming?" I asked, before they jumped into the car

--

I had the weirdest dream last night. Me and Justin made up. Justin and Gabriella weren't dating, and Gabriella was leaving.

Oh yeah. That wasn't a dream!

I knew I had to talk to her. But what was I supposed to say?

"You broke up with me a month ago, and like a looser, I've been pining for you and then I found out you're leaving, even though you didn't want me to know, and now I'm here to stop you. Please stay?"

I sighed and rolled over, pulling the covers over my head. This was gonna be hard

"Troy get your arse outta bed! You've got somewhere to be"

"What the hell Shar?!"

"Get up!" Zeke yelled as he ripped the blankets off me

"Thank god you're wearing boxers!" Taylor laughed as she pulled the pillows out from underneath my head

"Guys! What's going on?!" I yelled as I felt my body being pulled off the bed

"You're going to get Gabi!" Chad yelled as he shoved something into my hands

When I heard her name, my confused smile turned into a frown

"How? She's leaving, and she doesn't want me to know about it"

"Yeah she does. Read the letter" Zeke said as he pushed me onto my desk chair

I sighed as I ripped open the envelope and began reading

_Troy,_

_I know im the last person you want to think about at the moment, but I couldn't leave without telling you the truth. I didn't break up with you because you're popular. I did it because I'm going back to New Zealand, and I didn't want you to try and stop me. And if we're honest with ourselves, we would admit that we probably wouldn't have worked out in the long run anyway. I mean, you're going to U of A, and you'll be concentrating on basketball. But I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. I'm obviously not going to U of A, so for all I know I could work as a burger flipper for the rest of my life, while you're out partying it up with your mates and all the girls that will be falling at your feet. So I think this is for the best. Im sorry if I hurt you, I really didn't mean to._

_Love,_

_Gabriella_

Once I got to the end, I looked up at the gang, watching me hopefully

"Wait! You said 'she's leaving and she doesn't want you to know! How did you know that?!" cried Taylor

"Which one of you told him?" Sharpay pointed at Zeke and Chad

"They didn't. Justin did"

"Justin?" the gang asked in unison

"Uh… long story short, we made up. And he told me the truth about Brie"

"That's nice. So what are you waiting for? Go and get her?!"

"Ok, ok" I laughed as I slowly walked towards my bathroom,"just let me shower and get dressed

"She's going now!" yelled Chad

"Now?!"

"Yeah now! As in, she's leaving for the airport any minute!" Sharpay yelled

"Shit!" I cried as I threw on my clothes, running out the house and to my car

**Ta da!**

**So apparently this chapters a long one**

**Yay! One more chapter to go!**

**Remember to get that song!**

**And im not updating till I get 90 reviews. You're at 76 now, so that can't be too hard!**

**BUT! It's all g unit. Ok, so this one is really hard to explain. The basic story is, this guy sent me a text saying 'al g unit' and we had no idea wtf he was on about. But we're pretty sure it means 'all good' or something along the lines of that… so… all g unit! Lol new saying!**

**Keep reading Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Sorry I haven't updated for a bit, but I've been kinda busy!**

**Laters guys!**

**Xoxo**

**GreaseGurl**


	27. My Own Cinderella Story

**So sad! This is the last chapter!**

**: (**

**I don't have anything to say… I'm so sad… OH! Best thing to say ever!**

**If someone asks you what you're doing, or why you're going somewhere, say "I'm going to drink alotta alcohol, smoke alotta drugs, and have alotta sex." That'll shut them up. Especially if it's your parents…**

**I hope you all listened to the song I told you about. Isn't it sad?! Especially the video!**

**This is for Sam. As promised. ****It's all g unit!!**

**On with the show!! Or story… So sad… I wanna cry…**

Standing in the line to check in, I found myself looking around. Searching for familiar faces. Secretly hoping someone, or rather, Troy would run in like they did in movies and tell me not to leave. I wished he would wrap me in his arms and tell me he loved me and that he would never let me go. I figured the past 8 months had been like a movie, so why would this be any different?

I knew in my heart that I didn't want to leave. But I have 17 ½ years of my life waiting for me back home. Well I could hardly call it home. My mum was gone. All of my friends would be planning their OE's or University, all of which would start in a few months. I couldn't complete my last year of school 'cos I hadn't been there for half of it. Why was I here? When I could be with my Dad and Kat and all my new friends. And Troy. The guys whose hugs could make all of my troubles melt away. The guys whose smile captured my heart every time I saw it. The guys whose kiss made me feel like the most precious girl in the world. Why was I leaving it all behind?

'Cos he was Troy Bolton. Like my letter had said, we would be separated anyway. With him going to the University of Albuquerque and concentrating on his basketball. And me? I still had no idea what I was going to do. I hadn't been accepted to the U of A, so I would only end up working in a diner while he was out partying with his mates, sleeping with other girls-

"Excuse me ma'am? Can I help you?"

"Yes. Yes you most certainly can."

--

You would think in a moment like this, the traffic would magically disappear, or at least part like the red sea and let you drive through with no problems. Of course, today, that wasn't going to happen. It was only a ten minute drive to her house from mine, but somehow I'd got every single red light and pedestrian, not to mention it seemed like every single car Albuquerque felt the need to drive in front of me, really, really, really slowly. I'd be lucky if I caught Gabriella before she left for the airport.

--

I was going back. Nothing could stop me now.

"Im terribly sorry ma'am, but all flights to New Zealand have been delayed. There are some horrible storms headed that way"

"Oh. Uh… how long are they delayed for?"

"48 hours"

"48 _hours_?! _Hours_. Not minutes?!"

"No ma'am. Hours."

You've got to be kidding me?! What does the universe have against me?!

"Im terribly sorry ma'am. We _are_ offering full refunds on tickets"

"What are my other options?"

The attendant gestured her hand towards the rows of chairs occupied by sleeping tourists.

You have got to be shitting me?!

"ma'am?"

"Just gimme a minute to think. Please."

Maybe this was a sign. Maybe I was meant to stay here. Who am I kidding anyway? I have no life left in New Zealand. My life is here now. But New Zealand is home–

"ma'am. Im sorry, but there are other customers waiting…"

"Um… ok I'll-"

--

I ran up the front steps of Gabriella's house. Correction, Gabriella's _old_ house. Flinging the front door open, I ran through the house searching for any sign of life.

"Troy?! What are you doing here?!" cried a very surprised Kat

"Is she here?"

"No, Troy… she's gone"

"What time is her flight?"

"What?"

"Gabriella's flight. What time does it leave?"

Kat began frantically searching for the piece of paper that contained the information of Gabriella's flight.

"11"

I looked up and saw Stephen standing at the bottom of the stairs. I could see a look of sadness in his eyes. Like the light was missing. I guessed I had the same look in my eyes. The only way that light could return was to have Gabriella back in our lives.

I looked down at my watch. Shit. It was 10.00 already. There was only a small chance that I would make it.

Stephen walked past me, and out the front door. Then he turned to me and asked, "are you coming or what?"

"Troy!" I turned to look at kat, "take this. She got in"

I looked at the letter Kat had handed me. Gabriella got into the U of A.

"If that aint a sign, I don't know what is" I muttered to myself as I ran out the door after Stephen

--

Sitting in one of the many chairs at the airport terminal, I began to reminisce about my past 8 months in Albuquerque. If my life really was a movie, like I had began to suspect it was, right now I would be seeing slow motion flashbacks. The first would be when I first met Troy at the CD store. When I fist saw his gorgeous smile. His amazing eyes. And when I first heard that voice of his.

Next would be when I saw him again at the country club. Then my day at the mall with my new best friends. When he kissed me for the first time in front of the entire school… when we had the water fight in his backyard… the clips would go on, highlighting the amazing times I'd had with Troy, until it got to the point where I broke up with him. According to the gang, I broke his heart that day. Whether that was true or not, I know for a fact I broke my heart.

--

Apparently Stephen was a race car driver in a previous life!

We were currently speeding down the highway towards the airport

"Why didn't you try and stop her?"

"I thought this way would be more fun" I said sarcastically

Stephen stepped on the gas and wove his way around several cars, narrowly missing a truck

"She didn't tell me she was going!" I yelled holding onto the dashboard

"Why the bloody hell not?!"

"She thought I'd stop her"

"Of course you would! You love her!"

When we got to the airport Stephen barely stopped the car before I was flying out of the car

"Good luck Troy! I'll see you at home!"

--

I felt like crying. My life. Had turned. To shit.

"This sucks" I muttered as I lent forward in my seat, covering my face with my hands

"Gabriella!"

God. Now I'm even hearing his voice!

"Gabriella!"

Everyone around me had turned to the direction the voice was coming from, and then began searching for the mysterious Gabriella

I looked up to see Troy flying through the terminal, searching for someone

"Troy?" I asked as I stood up

"Brie! You can't go!" he cried as he got closer

"Troy I-"

"No listen! You can't leave me. You can't leave your parents. Or the gang. We love you too much!"

"But-"

"Brie, please just listen" he said as he held my hands in his

"I know why you didn't tell me. I understand. And I'm not mad. But if you really felt that strongly about leaving, then I wouldn't have stopped you. I would have wanted to, but I wouldn't have"

I laughed slightly, "Yes you would have"

He laughed too, "Ok so I would have. But can you blame me? Your life is here now. With the people who love you. Especially me"

"Troy…"

"If you need a sign then look at this"

He let go of one of my hands and pulled a slip of paper from his back pocket. Holding it in front of me, he said "you got in Brie. It's a sign that were meant to go to U of A together"

I turned and picked up the piece of paper that was sitting on my bag. I held it in front of him

"I got a refund on my ticket"

**Ok guys. That's where it ends : ( so sad. I'm gonna miss writing this. And you guys. I'm gonna miss it so much! I'd like to thank my mum. My dad. My step mum. My step dad. My sister. My other sister. And my brother…**

**Ok, only kidding. It doesn't end there. That's where I was gonna end it. But I didn't like it ending there, so heres some more!!**

"You got a refund?"

"Yeah I did"

"So you're staying?"

"I'm staying"

Troy let out a whoop of excitement before enveloping me in a hug, and spinning me around

There was a congratulatory cheer from the crowd who had been watching us

"How's that for a movie ending?" Troy whispered as he put me back on the ground

"You're missing something" I said as I pulled his head down to mine

"I love you" he whispered as he pulled away

"I love you too" I said, giggling slightly

"Come on. Let's go" he said as he grabbed my suitcase and then began pulling me out of the terminal. Troy hailed a taxi and ushered me into it

Finally inside and on our way home, I turned to look at Troy. I ran my hand across his cheek bone, my fingers brushing over a graze

"What happened?"

"I uh… got into a _small_ fight…" he chuckled nervously

"With who…?"

"Um… Justin…"

"What? Why?! Troy I told you we aren't dating!"

"Yeah I know that"

"Then what happened?"

"He told me that you were going back"

"And so you got into a fight with him?" I asked, completely astounded

"Uh… yeah" he said turning away

"Oh god. Hes gonna hate me now" I said laughing slightly

"Nah he won't" he said looking at me

"And how do you know?"

"We 'made up'. _Wow_ that sounds gay"

I laughed

"You made up? Seriously Troy"

"We did. Honestly!" he laughed, "call him and ask him if you want!"

"No its fine. I'll believe you" I said not completely believing him

"Come here" he whispered as he pulled my towards him for more kisses

"Troooooy!" I mumbled when we pulled into my driveway

"Not yet" he said as he pulled me back to him

"The taxi man wants his money!"

"I don't have the money"

"You're the knight in shining armour. Get paying" I laughed as I got out, and took my suitcase out of the boot

"Gabriella! Your back! I mean, you didn't leave!"

"Yeah Kat, I didn't go" I laughed as I saw Kat and my Dad running out of the house to greet me

"Thank you Troy. Finally, she listens to someone!" Dad said as he pulled me into a hug

Suddenly, Troy's phone rang

"Hello? Yeah man, she's back. Yeah we're at her house. Sweet as man. We'll wait for you here"

"Who was that?"

"The gang. They're on their way"

I laughed again as I began to take my suitcase inside

"Wow its empty in here" Troy mumbled as we entered my room

"Good thing we didn't send your stuff then I guess" Dad said as he hugged me once again

"Yeah, thanks Dad"

"Good thing your beds still here" Troy said as he flopped down onto my bed, pulling me down with him

Then my phone rang

"I thought fairytales are meant to have happy endings" I giggled as I picked up my phone

"Justin?"

"_Hey Ella. In guessing Troy got to you in time then?"_

"Yeah he did…"

"_Did he tell you we made up? Wow that sounds gay!"_

"Yeah he told me… and I didn't believe him…"

"_Well you should have cos it's true"_ I could hear him laughing slightly

"Hey you should come round. The gangs coming over as well, so we can all catch up… and maybe sort out the shit between you and the gang" I laughed

"_Yeah I'll be round soon then"_

"you invited Justin around?"

"Yeah. I figure if you can make up with him, then why cant the rest of the gang?"

"Good point"

--

"GABI!! God take your time Troy!" Sharpay yelled as ran through the doorway

"Hey! At least I stopped her!" I said standing up, narrowly missing the gang flying onto the bed for a group hug

"You're coming back to school aren't you?" Zeke asked

"Yeah. I'll re-enrol on Monday"

"You better" I said as I jumped on the bed to join the hug

"Ella? You in here?"

"Is that… Justin?" Taylor said sitting up

"Yeah I told him to come over…"

"Hey Gabs… and the gang" Justin said as he nodded his head towards everyone piled on the bed

"Hey man" I said as I stood up, putting my hand out for Justin to shake

"Hey. Good to see your back Gabs"

"Yeah it is!" she said as she gave him a hug. Then she turned to look at me, "I'm not dating him by the way"

"Alright, alright I get the hint" I laughed

"So are you two seriously friends again?" Chad asked me and Justin

"Yeah I guess we are" I said as Gabriella turned to hug me again

"Alright then. Any friend of Troy's is a friend of ours. Get into the group hug!!" Sharpay cried as she grabbed Justin's hand, pulling him onto the bed

"Wha-?" he asked, laughing

Gabriella looked up at me

"I guess i got My Own Cinderella Story"

"I guess you did" I laughed as I planted a smacking kiss on her lips, before pushing her onto the bed into the pile of bodies

I guess every story _does_ have a happy ending

**Ok, so ****there's the **_**real**_** ending!**

**Yay!**

**I'm**** thinking I might do an epilogue to this story… MAYBE! Only if you ask nicely lol I think it'd be good to see where they're at in a year or so…**

**But in the mean time… Keep reading Crazy Little Thing Called Love**

**I updated it today, and should hopefully update again in a few more days**

**I'll let you know (via CLTCL) when my other story is posted**

**Thanks to all the people who read this and reviewed. You guys are awesome!**

**on a lighter note, (well lighter for me anyway) i'd like to tell you that Joe Jonas is officially taken. BY ME!! AHA! ok maybe not. but i can dream cant i?**

**shut up jess. and nic. i know your laughing at me**

**i just love him cos Burnin' Up ends with 'i cant grow a moustache!'**

**me loves it!!**

**ok guys, laters (for now) hopefully...**

**And who am I?**

**Thats one secret I'll never tell**

**You know you love me**

**xoxo**

**GreaseGurl**


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